Tronchet was born in
Villeneuve-sur-Lot,
Lot-et-Garonne. He studied at the
École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the studio of
Louis-Jules André, then in 1890 in that of
Victor Laloux. Gaining his diploma in 1891, in 1892 he won the
Deuxième Second Grand Prix de Rome with his design entitled "Un musée d'artillerie". For
Fernand Halphen he built the
château Mont-Royal at
La Chapelle-en-Serval near
Chantilly (
Oise). After having rejected a project in the Anglo-Norman style by the architect
René Sergent, then a first project in a medieval style (drawings in the collection of the
Musée d'Orsay), Halphen decided on the second design, by Guillaume Tronchet : a château in the
Louis XVI style celebrating hunting on the exterior and music in the interior. Built from 1907 to 1911, the building (now a hotel) was a great architectural success. Head architect of civil buildings and national palaces, in 1929 Tronchet was entrusted with the construction (in only 8 months) of a new building for the ministry of employment on
place de Fontenoy in the
7th arrondissement of Paris by the minister of employment
Louis Loucheur. He used the most modern materials and techniques and famous decorative artists, such as
frères Martel for the sculpture and
Jacques Grüber for the glass windows. Tronchet died in
Nice in February 1959. His memory is perpetuated today by a foundation and, during the annual ceremony of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts under the coupole of the
Institut de France, this awards a prize to encourage a young artist (usually an architect). ==Main works==