Pierre-François Palloy

Pierre-François Palloy was born in 1755 in Paris.  In his youth he joined the French Royal Army. Later he would marry the daughter of a building contractor and took over the family business.  By the outbreak of the Revolution he was in charge of the largest building company in Paris.  

At the outbreak of the Revolution Palloy was on hand with a plan as to what to do with the redundant Bastille once it fell on the 14th July 1789.  He employed a thousand workmen to demolish the once infamous prison.  He had wider plans however as he started selling the stonework as mementos.  He then created miniature models of the prison from the stone and once again sold these as souvenirs.

He was employed in 1792 to renovate the Temple Marais so it could be used as prison to hold the Royal family.  He would live through the Revolution and died in 1835.