Victor-Alexandre-Frédéric Laloux (French pronunciation:[viktɔʁalɛksɑ̃dʁfʁedeʁiklalu]; 15 November 1850 – 13 July 1937) was a French Beaux-Arts architect and teacher.
On his return to France Laloux rose quickly through the academic system, serving on many juries, societies and foundations. As practitioner, he produced major commissions in a highly ornamented neo-classical surface style, collaborating with sculptors and muralists squarely in the Beaux-Arts tradition, but doing so on innovative cast-iron frames. Metal framing allowed higher interior spaces, more generous fenestration, and glass roofs, notably in the sunlit barrel-vault of the Gare d'Orsay.
Laloux was awarded the American AIA Gold Medal in 1922, and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1929. In 1932, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding Academician. In 1936, the year before his death, his successor as head of the atelier was his own student, Charles Lemaresquier. He died in Paris, aged 86.
As professor, Laloux assumed the direction of Louis-Jules André's atelier when André died in 1890. Laloux would ultimately train about 600 students through the years, including 132 Americans.[3] Laloux had the distinction of training the greatest number of American students at the Ecole, with Jean-Louis Pascal in second place.[4] Laloux's influence is visible in the U.S. in buildings like the 1921 San Francisco City Hall.
Atelier training in the context of the École focused on the annual Prix de Rome competition, and by this measure Laloux was also the school's most successful teacher, training 16 winners.[5] At Laloux's death in 1937, his student and partner Charles Lemaresquier succeeded him as head of the studio.
The students educated in Laloux's atelier include:
