Pierre-Joseph Pézerat

Pierre-Joseph Pézerat, known in Portuguese as Pedro José Pézerat (La Guiche, France, 1801 — Lisbon, Portugal, May 1, 1872), was a French architect and engineer with works in Brazil, Algeria, and Portugal. Pézerat was born in Burgundy and was educated in Paris. Details of his education are lacking, but he may have studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Antoine Vaudoyer. He moved to Brazil in 1825 and became the private architect of Emperor Pedro I in 1828. He renovated the São Cristóvão Palace in the Neoclassical style, and it remains his most noted work. Pézerat left Brazil to work for the French Ministry of War in Oran, Algeria, then worked for the Lisbon City Council from 1852 until his death in 1872.

Pézerat is credited for the introduction of the Neoclassical style in Brazil, but the style emerged in Brazil in the late 18th century, was strengthened by the French Artistic Mission, and continued by Pézerat and others to become the dominant architectural style in Brazil throughout the 19th century. Pézerat and another French architect, Grandjean de Montigny (1776–1850), are considered the principal figures in Brazilian architecture during the first half of the 19th century.