Ange-Jacques Gabriel (23 October 1698 – 4 January 1782) was the principal architect of King Louis XV of France. His major works included the Place de la Concorde, the École Militaire, and the Petit Trianon and opera theater at the Palace of Versailles. His style was a careful balance between French Baroque architecture and French neoclassicism. Biography Early life and career Ange-Jacques Gabriel was born on 23 October 1698 to a famous Parisian family of architects, and was connected by marriage with another celebrated architect of the time, François Mansart. His grandfather was an architect, and his father, Jacques Gabriel (1667-1742) received the title of Controller of the Buildings of the King at the age of twenty-one. His father's major projects included the Hotel de Ville of Rennes and the Place Royale (now Place de la Bourse) in Bordeaux. The young Ange-Jacques became a member of the Académie royale d'architecture in 1728, and assisted his father on the Place de la Bourse. He became the principal assistant to his father as Premier Architecte at the Versailles from 1735 and, after his father's death, succeeded him as chief architect of the King. In his new position He served the supervision of two successive Directors of the Buildings of the King, Tournehem and Abel-François Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny, the brother of the King's mistress and cultural advisor, Madame de Pompadour. Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde) The Place Louis XV, today's Place de la Concorde was conceived in 1748 and completed in 1772, and was Gabriel's first major project. He was asked to find a compromise between several competing plans for the development of the marshy land between the gates of the Tuileries Palace gardens and the new Champs-Elysees, land donated by the King. Gabriel's design, combining elements of the earlier schemes, left the view toward the Seine open, and preserved unobstructed the long axis between the Tuileries and the Champs-Elysees. On the north side of the Place, he built two symmetrical palaces, leaving a gap between them, creating a new north–south axis, the Rue Rye Royale, connecting the Place to the Madeleine church, then under construction. The facades of the palaces, with rows of Corinthian columns, were modeled after the colonnades of the Louvre. The centerpiece of the square was an equestrian statue of Louis XV. The project was finalized in 1754 and was completed in 1763. The