Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier (9 January 1861 – 26 October 1930) was a French landscape architect who trained with Adolphe Alphand and became conservator of the promenades of Paris.
Also recorded as J.C.N. Forestier · Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier

Public domain
- Name
- Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
- Born
- 9 January 1861
- Birthplace
- Aix-les-Bains, France
- Died
- 26 October 1930
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Occupation
- Landscape architect
- Known for
- Paseo del Prado
- Nationality
- France
- Fields
- architecture · landscape architecture
- Education
- École polytechnique · Sciences Po
- Honours
- Officer of the Legion of Honour
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier (9 January 1861 – 26 October 1930) was a French landscape architect who trained with Adolphe Alphand and became conservator of the promenades of Paris.
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
gnd · 1091630275 · wikidata · Q3049328 · wikipedia · Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
In this article
Biography
Biography
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier studied at École polytechnique and Sciences Po. Théodore Leveau is recorded as having studied under Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is architecture and landscape architecture. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier • Born — 9 January 1861 • Birthplace — Aix-les-Bains, France • Died — 26 October 1930 • Place of death — Paris, France • Occupation — Landscape architect • Known for — Paseo del Prado
Works
Works
• Illustration — Paseo del Prado, promenade. Havana. 1925 • Illustration — Master plan for Havana Forestier studied at the École Polytechnique de Paris from 1880 to 1882. He also studied at the École libre des sciences politiques, and at the École forestière de Nancy. Forestier worked as a civil servant for the City of Paris from 1887-1927. There, he worked on the Bois de Vincennes (1889), the Bois de Boulogne and the western sector of the Promenades de Paris (1898). He also worked on the Avenue de Breteuil (1898) and developed an arboretum at Vincennes and the gardens of the Champ-de-Mars below the Eiffel Tower. Forestier also did design projects in the French Protectorate of Morocco. Forestier also worked in Spain, setting up gardens in Seville including the Maria Luisa Park (1914) which showcased botanicals, French geometry and Latin and Islamic design and decoration. The park also includes an honorary statue of Forestier. In Barcelona, Forestier designed the gardens of Montjuic, including Laribel Park, the Miramar gardens, and the Greek Theatre Gardens. Elsewhere in Barcelona, he worked on Pedralbes Park (1916). Forestier introduced several ornamental plants to Catalonia, such as rosewood. Throughout Barcelona, he worked closely with Maria Rubió i Tudurí. Forestier also worked in private commissions, such as the Palacio de Liria (1916) in Madrid and the gardens of La Casa del Rey Moro in Ronda. In 1923, he also made a plan for the improvement of Buenos Aires and the seaside town of Ostende, Buenos Aires. In 1925 he became Inspector of Gardens for the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and undertook projects in the Americas. In 1925, he moved to Havana for five years to collaborate with architects and landscape designers, where he designed the gardens for the El Capitolio and worked on the master plan of the city, aiming to create a harmonic balance between classical forms and the tropical landscape. He embraced and connected the city's road networks while accentuating prominent landmarks. He had great influence in Havana, although many of his ideas were cut short by the great depression in 1929. In 1927, Forestier began working with the city of Lisbon on garden design and urban planning. Forestier's Haussmanian tradition and tendencies towards monumentality were popular with cities looking to represent ideas of nationalism in their design. Forestier developed an urban plan and road system articulating from the Avenida da Liberdade. Although his plans were not implemented, his ideas influenced future urban planning in Lisbon. His last major project was the garden of the Bastide du Roy for the Princess of Polignac near Biot. The scholar Vincent Casals Costa argues that Forestier's practical model of urban design is that of a "city-park." It includes features such as the park as a framework within a monumental city which follows Fredric Law Olmsted's avenues model, internal division within the city, and regional elements, and functionality.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Origins and background
Origins and background
On origins, the institutional record states the following. Born in 1861 at Aix-les-Bains. The register further records that jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier died in 1930 at Paris.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Aix-les-Bains.
Birth place
Paris.
Death place
Writings
• FORESTIER Jean Claude Nicolas, Grandes villes et systèmes de parcs, Paris, Hachette, 1908, 50p. • FORESTIER Jean Claude Nicolas, Grandes villes et systèmes de parcs, Paris, Norma, rééd. du texte de 1908 présentée par B. Leclerc et S. Tarrago, 1997, 383p. • FORESTIER Jean Claude Nicolas, Jardins,[carnet de plans et de croquis, Paris, Ed Picard, 1994. • LECLERC Bénédicte, Jean Claude Nicolas FORESTIER,1861-1930, du Jardin au paysage urbain, Paris, Ed Picard, 2000, 283p. • LECLERC Bénédicte, Jean Claude Nicolas FORESTIER,1861-1930, La science des jardins au service de l’art urbain, Revue Pages Paysages, N°2, 1988–89, p24-29. • LECLERC Bénédicte, Jardin, Paysage, urbanisme: la mission de Jean C-N Forestier au Maroc en 1913, Nancy, Ed Ecole d’architecture de Nancy, 1993, s-p. • LE DANTEC Jean-Pierre, Le Sauvage et le régulier. Art des jardins et paysagisme en France au XXième siècle, Paris, Ed du Moniteur, 2002, p93 à 101.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091630275, Colloque international sur Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- “Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3049328: Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier. Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine.
- 2.Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier. Sevilla City Centre.
- 3.FORESTIER A MONTJUÏC El jardín como obra de arte. Barcelona Cultura.
- 4.Sainsbury, Brendan. Jean Claude Forestier: the Frenchman who helped reshape Havana. On Cuba News. 12 April 2021.
- 5.Costa, Vincent Casals. BARCELONA, LISBOA Y FORESTIER: DEL PARQUE URBANO A LA CIUDAD-PARQUE. Scripta Nova. 296. 2. 5 March 2009.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091630275, Colloque international sur Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Died at
1- ParisPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
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This entry is compiled from 7 catalogued sources across 5 independent registers. The registers consulted are Crossref registry, Wikipedia, DOAJ, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and Wikimedia Foundation. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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