Achille-Antoine Hermitte

Achille-Antoine Hermitte was born in Paris in 1840 in Paris. There are no records of his parents or childhood. He attended the École Royale d'Architecture de Paris, part of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, a school that was not known for developing original architects.[1] He graduated in 1860 as a student in the second class. There is no record that he received any prizes. Early in his career he was apprenticed to Douillard frères^(fr)(fr) of Nantes.[2]

Hermitte was involved in construction of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Guangzhou (Canton), China, but his role is unclear.[2] Eudore de Colomban in his biography of Zéphyrin Guillemin, Bishop of Canton, wrote that around 1865 or 1866 a new, 26-year-old architect had arrived, but work on the cathedral was still making little progress. This probably refers to Hermitte.[3] Hermitte seems to have been based in Hong Kong while he did work for the bishop and others.[4] This included a chapel to mark the place where Saint Francis Xavier had died on Shangchuan Island, southwest of Canton. It replaced a ruined memorial to the saint.[5]

City Hall, Hong Kong (1868)

In 1865 Hermitte entered the competition for the design of the Hong Kong City Hall.[6] Around the end of 1865 Hermitte won the competition, in which the selection process was far from transparent.[7] The City Hall and Hermitte's other buildings were erected by skilled Hakka stonemasons from Wuhua in eastern Guangdong. They were probably chosen in part because they were more friendly to foreigners and tolerant of Christianity then other local people.[8] By October 1868 the Hong Kong City Hall was almost finished, although work still continued into the spring of 1869. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, opened the building in a ceremony on 28 June 1869.[9]

In 1865 a competition for a new gubernatorial palace in Saigon was announced. There were two entries, one of which may perhaps have been Hermitte's.[10] The Governor of Cochinchina, Admiral Pierre-Paul de La Grandière, later made Hermitte head of his architectural department, as recommended by admirals Pierre-Gustave Roze and Gustave Ohier, who had met him in Hong Kong. Hermitte's priority was to design a new Governor's Mansion since the existing wooden building was in disrepair. La Grandière laid the cornerstone for this building on 23 March 1868, a block of blue granite from Biên Hòa containing a lead coffer that in turn contained newly-minted gold, silver and coin coins of Napoleon III.[11]

Work on the huge Saigon Governor's Palace began in earnest when Hermitte brought in skilled workmen from Canton and Hong Kong. The site of the Palais du Gouverneur turned out to be waterlogged and the foundations required constant repair to counteract subsidence throughout the building's life.[12] Most of the materials were imported from France, adding to the cost.[13] Completion of construction was celebrated informally on 25 September 1869 with a banquet and a ball for everyone involved in the project.[12] The final, formal opening of the palace took place in 1873 under Governor Marie Jules Dupré.[13] Dupré moved into the building that year, and the decorations were completed in 1875. The total cost was 12 million francs, over a quarter of the budget for public works in Cochinchina.[14]

In 1869 Hermitte was listed as the architect of the colony, head of the civil buildings service, on leave. Codry was listed as architect, acting head of service.[15] An 1872 account of the Hôtel du Gouvernment in Saigon states that Hermitte died in Saigon in 1870 and was succeeded by M. Codry.[16][lower-alpha 1] This date and place is uncertain. Around 1870 Bishop Guillemin wrote, "... our architect, greatly weakened by his work and his period in Saigon, has just returned to France leaving on our shoulders all of the direction and care of the works of our church (cathedral)".[4]