page_title: Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry (1682-1756)
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry (1682-1756) / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Archives nationales, Paris, Fonds de la Marine C7, 340, dossier Vaudreuil, 43. Dessin attribué à Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry. Élévation de l'hôtel de Vaudreuil, construit en 1723; dessin réalisé en 1727. Résidence privée du gouverneur Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil. Construite en 1723 mais détruite par un incendie 80 ans plus tard, la maison occupait une parcelle qui se trouve aujourd'hui sur place Jacques-Cartier. Entièrement conçue dans le style classique d'un hôtel particulier français. L'hôtel de Vaudreuil se compose d'un corps de logis à deux étages, flanqué d'ailes; deux escaliers semi-circulaires donnent accès à une terrasse surélevée et à une entrée. Les terrains rattachés à la propriété comprennent de grands jardins à l'arrière ainsi qu'un lot de l'autre côté de la rue Saint-Paul, volontairement laissé sans bâtiment pour assurer une vue agréable. Source: L'histoire du Vieux-Montréal à travers son patrimoine / Gilles Lauzon &amp; Hélène Forget.
context_page_description: Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry, was Louis XV's Chief Engineer of New France. He is recognised as the father of the first truly Canadian architecture. In 2006, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated him a person of national historic importance. It highlighted his contribution to the development of New France through the quality, variety, importance and scope of his work in the fields of military engineering, civil and religious architecture, and urban planning.
context_section_description: Baptised at Toulon Cathedral in 1682, he was the son of Gaspard d'Estienne de Chaussegros (d.1690), King's engineer and the architect of Toulon in Provence, by his first wife, Anne Vidal de Léry. His family were ennobled in 1325 and long settled in Provence, where their principal residence was the Château de Mimet, near Aix-en-Provence. Mimet was given away as a dowry in 1700 on the marriage of his aunt, Lucrèce d'Estienne de Chaussegros, to Charles II (1675-1741) de Grimaldi, Marquis de Régusse; President of the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence; grandson of Charles de Grimaldi-Régusse.
  From his family papers kept at the National Archives of Canada, Chaussegros de Léry enjoyed the patronage of various high-ranking relatives of King Louis XV. Throughout his life he kept up a friendly personal correspondence with Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse, and the Duc de Penthièvre, who all expressed their affection for him and his family and assured of him of their support. He was probably trained as a military engineer by his father, afterwards serving in an engineering capacity in the French Royal Army. He fought at the Battle of Turin as aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Vibraye. In 1708, he took part in the abortive attempt to land James, the Old Pretender, at Scotland. He was afterwards a Captain in the Régiment de Sault.
  In 1714, he completed a long manuscript, never published, entitled Traité de fortification divisé en huit livres. By 1716, he was employed within the Ministre de la Marine and sent to New France to prepare plans of the existing Fortifications at Quebec and to recommend those required to protect the city from attack. This mission led to a permanent appointment as King Louis XV's Chief Engineer there, a post he held from 1719 until his death.
caption: Château Vaudreuil, as drawn on its completion by de Léry, 1727
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