Henri Parent
French architect (1819–1895)

Aubert Henri Joseph Parent (French pronunciation: [obɛʁ‿ ɑ̃ʁi ʒozɛf paʁɑ̃te]; 12 April 1819 – 1895) was a French architect.
Biography
Aubert Henri Joseph Parent was born on 12 April 1819 in Valenciennes, Nord, Hauts-de-France. His brother, Clément was the son in-law of Joseph-Antoine Froelicher.
Parent restored and transformed several hôtels particuliers in the Faubourg Saint-Germain for high aristocratic families. He worked on the Hôtel de Boisgelin, located at 47 rue de Varenne (VIIe arrondissement), and transformed it for the Dukes of Doudeauville and of Bisaccia. He put up panelling originally in the Château de Bercy, and creating a chapel, a winter garden, a dining room, stables for 25 horses, two rooms for 8 carriages, two cellars and a grand staircase ("escalier d'honneur") panelled with polychromatic marble plaques, which was inspired by the queen's staircase at the Palace of Versailles. The building now houses the Italian embassy in France.
Parent also created three luxurious Persian residences:
Hôtel particulier 158 Boulevard Haussmann (VIIIe arrondissement), in the Neoclassical style, for Édouard André (1833–1894) from 1867–1874 (today the Musée Jacquemart-André).
Hôtel particulier 5, Avenue Van Dyck (VIIIe arrondissement), in the Eclectic style with ornaments sculpted by Jules Dalou, for the industrialist Émile Menier from 1870–1872 (today a private residence).
Hôtel particulier 8, Rue Alfred de Vigny (VIIIe arrondissement), Neo Gothic in style, for Henri Menier in 1880 (today the Conservatoire international de musique).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Henri Parent” is french architect (1819–1895). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henri, Parent and French, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3131735. VIAF identifies the subject as 81707073. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1819, 1895, 1833 and 1894.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henri Parent” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.