Gaspard de Chabrol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comte Gilbert Joseph Gaspard de Chabrol de Volvic (1773-1843) was a French official. Graduating from an École Polytechnique in 1794, he was named prefect of the Seine (and thus Prefect of Paris) by Napoleon in 1812, an office he held until 1833. He is to be credited with paving several of Paris's streets and boulevards, the creation of pavements (edged with volcanic stone from Volvic, boosting that town whose name he bore), and the gradual conversion of city lighting to gaslight. He also created and financed the école d'architecture et de sculpture de Volvic (now the École Départementale d'Architecture de Volvic).

Between 1820 and 1821 he created two adult education courses in Paris (precursor of today's 'Éducation populaire'), directed by Monsieur Delahaye.

He gave his name to the rue de Chabrol, opened in 1822 between rue La Fayette and boulevard Magenta, and to the cité de Chabrol which links cour de la Ferme Saint Lazare to rue de Chabrol.