Mansart, François (1598–1666)

French architect, born in Paris, the leading figure in 17th-century French classicism. Mansart never visited Italy and his work is thus ultimately French in its elegance and restraint. His buildings in Paris include the châteaux of Balleroy (1626), and his masterpiece Maisons-Lafitte (1642); churches of Sainte Marie de Chaillot (1640), Sainte Marie de la Visitation, and Val-de-Grace (1645); and the remodelled Hôtel Carnavalet in Paris (1655–61).

He was the great-uncle of the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

The Mansard roof, though named after him, was earlier used by Pierre Lescot. It is a roof with two sets of rafters on each side, the lower nearly vertical, the upper much inclined, giving space for attics.