Culture
Le Corbusier
Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was an architect, urban planner, and painter who had a profound influence on 20th-century architecture. It was in his hometown that he created his first
works.
Born on October 6, 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym of Le Corbusier in 1920 in order to distinguish between his work as an architect and that as a painter. The pseudonym was inspired by the name of his maternal great-grandfather, Mr. Lecorbésier.
He entered the local school of applied arts in 1902 to train as an engraver, but Charles L’Eplattenier, one of his teachers, steered him towards architecture: a profession he was to discover during his work experience stays in Paris and in Berlin, and on his famous trip to the Orient in 1911, which took him across the Balkans to Istanbul and on to Greece and Italy.
During the 1920s, he became one of the most renowned architects and urban planners of his time. He was made a citizen of honour of his native town in 1957, and died on August 27th 1965 at the French Riviera.
Anyone wishing to understand Le Corbusier’s work as an architect, town planner, painter, sculptor and writer, can follow in the master’s first footsteps in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, and take in the distinctive urban and aesthetic culture of these two towns.
- Links
Guided city tour
With a guide, discover the early works of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, the future Le Corbusier.
Museum
Luminous and white, it`s the first house built by Le Corbusier as an independent architect.
