Aaron Messiah was an early 20th century European architect. Messiah was court architect to Léopold II of Belgium

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...

, but his most famous work was the Villa Ephrussi, completed in 1912. At this southern French villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

, Messiah successfully synthesized the eclectic collections and ideas of Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild

Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild

Charlotte Béatrice de Rothschild was a French socialite, art collector, and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France.- Biography :...

 into a coherent neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 whole.

Messiah also built the more grandiose Villa Masséna. Like the Villa Ephrussi, the Villa Masséna was an aristocratic retreat in the south of France, and represented an apotheosis of southern Europe's craft legacy. This villa was built for the prince Victor Masséna, whose family had gained title and wealth under the French emperor Napoléon. Despite its historicism

Historicism (art)

Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...

, the villa included an up-to-date porte-cochere

Porte-cochere

A porte-cochère is the architectural term for a porch- or portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which a horse and carriage can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.The porte-cochère was a feature of many late 18th...

, where visitors could enter and leave automobiles without being exposed to the elements.

Aaron was the father of the architect Gaston Messiah (1885-1962).