Jules Gravereaux
Encyclopedia
Jules Gravereaux was a French
rosarian. He was a top executive at the department store Le Bon Marché
and in 1892 purchased land at the village of L'Haÿ about 8 km south of Paris
. There, he built the first ever complete garden devoted exclusively to roses. It became so popular that a few years later the village changed its name to L'Haÿ-les-Roses
.
In August 1873, he married Laure Thuillier.
Mrs. Boucicault had no children and at her death, she bequeathed all her shares of Le Bon Marché to its employees based on their seniority. Present since the beginning, Jules Gravereaux inherits enough to retire in 1892 at age 48.
While working for Le Bon Marché he became interested in roses while on textile buying trips to Lille. In 1892, he bought a large property in L'Haÿ and hired the famous landscape architect Édouard André to lay out a garden of 1600 roses. Here he hybridized his own roses and made his own rose oil for perfume.
In 1900, Jules Gravereaux was hired by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
, the Commissioner of Gardens for the city of Paris, to help create the public rose gardens at Château de Bagatelle
. He donated 1200 roses for the garden, which is the site of the International New Rose Trial (Concours International des Roses Nouvelles). In 1901, the Ministry of Agriculture asked him to collect wild plants of the genus Rosa and those used in the horticultural and industrial production of rose perfume. He started this mission in the Balkans
. Back at L'Hay, he decided to create new rose varieties for the production of perfume, which would facilitate the process of distillation. He worked on hybrids of Rosa rugosa and developed the cultivar 'Rose à parfum de L'Haÿ', among others. In all he created 27 new cultivars, primarily for rose oil production.
Roseraie de l’Haÿ reached peak capacity at 8000 roses in 1910, every type known at the time.
In 1911, Gravereaux helped recreate the rose collection of Joséphine de Beauharnais
at her Château de Malmaison
by researching all species and cultivars available in Europe in her lifetime, and donating the 197 roses his research turned up. This list included 107 gallicas, 27 centifolias, 3 mosses, 9 damasks, 22 bengals, 4 spinosissimas, 8 albas, 3 luteas, 1 musk, and the species alpina, arvensis, banksia, carolina, cinnamomea, clinophylla, laevigata (the cherokee rose), rubrifolia (aka glauca), rugosa, white and red, sempervirens, and setigera. He was awarded the Legion of Honor and proclaimed Commander of Agricultural Merit for having developed interest in rose gardens and rose commerce. In 1914, the town of L'Haÿ changed its name to L'Haÿ-les-Roses
.
Jules Gravereaux died in Paris March 23, 1916. The very fragrant, purple rugosa hybrid, 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' was named for his garden.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rosarian. He was a top executive at the department store Le Bon Marché
Le Bon Marché
Le Bon Marché is the name of one of the best known department stores in Paris, France. It is sometimes regarded as the "first department store in the world". Although this depends on what is meant by 'department store', it may have had the first specially designed building for a store in Paris...
and in 1892 purchased land at the village of L'Haÿ about 8 km south of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. There, he built the first ever complete garden devoted exclusively to roses. It became so popular that a few years later the village changed its name to L'Haÿ-les-Roses
L'Haÿ-les-Roses
L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a sous-préfecture of the Val-de-Marne département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of L'Haÿ-les-Roses....
.
Biography
His parents were Jean Narcisse Gravereaux, carpenter, and Marie Henriette Gervais. In March 1856, at age 12, he was apprenticed to a hatter of rue du Bac. He was hired two years later by the haberdashery of Aristide Boucicault and wife. In 1852, Mr. and Mrs. Boucicault bought the land in front of their shop to build Le Bon Marché. Jules Gravereaux began at Le Bon Marché in 1864 as a private seller and moved up the ranks. He joined the board in 1871.In August 1873, he married Laure Thuillier.
Mrs. Boucicault had no children and at her death, she bequeathed all her shares of Le Bon Marché to its employees based on their seniority. Present since the beginning, Jules Gravereaux inherits enough to retire in 1892 at age 48.
While working for Le Bon Marché he became interested in roses while on textile buying trips to Lille. In 1892, he bought a large property in L'Haÿ and hired the famous landscape architect Édouard André to lay out a garden of 1600 roses. Here he hybridized his own roses and made his own rose oil for perfume.
In 1900, Jules Gravereaux was hired by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier
Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier was a French landscape architect, trained with Alphand and became conservateur of the promenades of Paris. He developed an arboretum at Vincennes and the gardens of the Champ-de-Mars below the Eifel Tower...
, the Commissioner of Gardens for the city of Paris, to help create the public rose gardens at Château de Bagatelle
Château de Bagatelle
The Château de Bagatelle is a small neoclassical château with a French landscape garden in the Bois de Boulogne in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris...
. He donated 1200 roses for the garden, which is the site of the International New Rose Trial (Concours International des Roses Nouvelles). In 1901, the Ministry of Agriculture asked him to collect wild plants of the genus Rosa and those used in the horticultural and industrial production of rose perfume. He started this mission in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. Back at L'Hay, he decided to create new rose varieties for the production of perfume, which would facilitate the process of distillation. He worked on hybrids of Rosa rugosa and developed the cultivar 'Rose à parfum de L'Haÿ', among others. In all he created 27 new cultivars, primarily for rose oil production.
Roseraie de l’Haÿ reached peak capacity at 8000 roses in 1910, every type known at the time.
In 1911, Gravereaux helped recreate the rose collection of Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...
at her Château de Malmaison
Château de Malmaison
The Château de Malmaison is a country house in the city of Rueil-Malmaison about 12 km from Paris.It was formerly the residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais, and with the Tuileries, was from 1800 to 1802 the headquarters of the French government.-History:Joséphine de Beauharnais bought the...
by researching all species and cultivars available in Europe in her lifetime, and donating the 197 roses his research turned up. This list included 107 gallicas, 27 centifolias, 3 mosses, 9 damasks, 22 bengals, 4 spinosissimas, 8 albas, 3 luteas, 1 musk, and the species alpina, arvensis, banksia, carolina, cinnamomea, clinophylla, laevigata (the cherokee rose), rubrifolia (aka glauca), rugosa, white and red, sempervirens, and setigera. He was awarded the Legion of Honor and proclaimed Commander of Agricultural Merit for having developed interest in rose gardens and rose commerce. In 1914, the town of L'Haÿ changed its name to L'Haÿ-les-Roses
L'Haÿ-les-Roses
L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a sous-préfecture of the Val-de-Marne département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of L'Haÿ-les-Roses....
.
Jules Gravereaux died in Paris March 23, 1916. The very fragrant, purple rugosa hybrid, 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' was named for his garden.
Partial list of publications
- Collection botanique du genre Rosa (1899). Botanical collection of the genus Rosa.
- Catalogue des roses cultivées à L'Haÿ (1900). Catalogue of roses grown at L'Haÿ.
- Rapport sur la culture des roses dans la péninsule des Balkans (1901). Report on the cultivation of roses in the Balkan Peninsula.
- Les Roses cultivées à L'Haÿ en 1902. Roses grown at L'Hay in 1902. Essai de classement (1902). Test rankings.
- Manuel pour la description des rosiers (1906). Manual for the description of the Rose.
- Les Roses à parfum et la fabrication de l'essence à la Roseraie de L'Haÿ de 1901 à 1905 (1906). Perfume roses and manufacture of rose oil at the Roseraie de L'Haÿ from 1901 to 1905.
- La Rose dans les sciences, dans les arts et dans les lettres (1906). The Rose in the sciences, arts and letters.
- La Malmaison. Les roses de l'Impératrice Joséphine. The roses of Empress Josephine. 1912.
Partial list of roses commemorating Jules Gravereaux, family, and garden
- Rosomane Gravereaux
- Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux
- Rhodophile Gravereaux
- Madame Jules Gravereaux
- Roseraie de l’Haÿ