 His time in Rome coincided with a fervent new interest in Classicism among the young French "pensionnaires", under the influences of Piranesi and the publications of Winckelmann.Returning to Paris, he was quickly given an appointment as an inspector of public works for the city of Paris, under the architect Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, whose own time at the French Academy in Rome had predisposed him to the new style.In this official capacity he oversaw the construction of Ange-Jacques Gabriel's Hôtel Saint-Florentin in the rue Saint-Florentin, where Chalgrin was able to design the neoclassical gateway to the "cour d'honneur".