Lavallée, a lawyer and businessman born in 1797, opened in 1829 a private school to train the civil engineers French industry lacked. There were a hundred and forty-seven of them at the first intake: this was the École centrale des arts et manufactures. He funded and ran it, then made a gift of it to the State in 1857, asking nothing in return. He died in 1873.
The story
Born at Savigné-l'Évêque in 1797, a lawyer and company director, Alphonse Lavallée was a shareholder in Le Globe, the newspaper of the Saint-Simonians — the circle that would also produce the Suez canal project.
He obtained from the University the right to open an independent school and inaugurated on 3 November 1829 the École centrale des arts et manufactures, in the Hôtel de Juigné — today the Musée Picasso. A hundred and forty-seven students at the first intake.
The school survived everything: 1830, the cholera of 1832, the revolution of 1848. It trained the civil engineers French industry lacked.
In 1857 Lavallée made it over to the State free of charge — the act was approved by Napoleon III and supported by Mérimée. He had been its founder, its financier and its first director.
A commandeur of the Légion d'honneur in 1862, he died in 1873. His son would create the Segrez arboretum and give his name to a grape variety, the alphonse-lavallée. The plot, in Division 43, has since been taken over by the Castex family.
The grave
A chapel where nothing remains of him but an image: a bronze medallion signed Hubert Ponscarme, undated, which portrays him. The plot was taken over by the de Castex family, and the present inscriptions are theirs — “Vicomtesse de CASTEX née MAY de SEVIN 1929-2005”, “Vicomte Maurice de CASTEX 1918-2017” and a child who died at one month in 2005. No inscription bears the name of Lavallée any longer. The cast-iron door deserves a look: a perfume burner, two angels' heads, and an ouroboros — the serpent biting its own tail, a figure of eternity. A stained-glass window with a red cross on a white ground lights it.
On site, do not miss
The bronze medallion by Ponscarme is all that still names him: the inscriptions on the stele belong to the de Castex family. Look too at the iron door: an ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail.
Visitors' questions
Where is Alphonse Lavallée's grave?
In Division 43, Avenue Transversale No. 1, in a chapel — but his name no longer appears on it: the plot was taken over by the de Castex family, whose inscriptions run from 1929 to 2017. Only a bronze medallion still depicts him.
The Greffulhe ChapelHow can his chapel be recognised?
By its bronze medallion, signed Hubert Ponscarme, which portrays him and which the monument has kept. The cast-iron door carries an incense burner, two angels' heads and an ouroboros — the serpent that bites its own tail.
Prosper EnfantinWhen did he found the École Centrale?
On 3 November 1829, at the hôtel de Juigné — now the Picasso Museum — with a hundred and forty-seven students in the very first intake. The school survived 1830, the cholera of 1832 and the revolution of 1848.
Michel ChaslesDid he sell his school to the State?
No: he handed it over free of charge, in 1857, with the approval of Napoleon III and the backing of Mérimée. He had been its founder, its financier and its first director for twenty-eight years, since the intake of 1829.
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