Joseph Ramée

This is the first indepth study of an architect and landscape designer forgotten in scholarship as a result of the precarious historical circumstances in which he pursued his career. Forced to flee France during the Revolution, Ramée spent his life as a nomad, working in Belgium, Saxony, Hamburg, Denmark, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the United States. Staying only briefly in most places, he was often forgotten, and his works subsequently attributed to other architects. In this reconstruction of his career, Paul Turner demonstrates how Ramée, in the process of his travels, transmitted innovations from country to country and created a unique synthesis of the design currents of the Neo-Classical Age. This study, the result of a decade of research, brings to light not only Ramée's lost works but also his relationships with diverse clients, including aristocrats, merchants, poets, educators, American land developers and others.

• First book published about this architect
• Brings together Ramée's lost works and his relationship with clients
• Fascinating reconstruction of a career often overlooked as a result of the precarious circumstances in which it was pursued