Description
The Schaefers were an established family of coopers originally from Trier. Jean Schaefer-Leysen, who died in 1813, had seven children, including two sons, who eventually went to live in Paris, and a third son, Antoine (31 October 1790–18 September 1852). He was a originally a cooper by profession, but changed careers in 1814 to work in the porcelain industry. Throughout his life, he was a close friend of Ferdinand Pescatore, mayor of the City of Luxembourg from 1844 to 1848. Antoine Schaefer opened a German wine business and wholesale grocery store on Grand'Rue. Schaefer became a naturalised citizen in 1837. Soon after that, he joined the Chamber of Commerce. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, he represented the trade sector until 1852, and chaired this important institution from 1848 to 1850. Antoine Schaefer and his wife, Anne-Marguerite Claus, both died in Luxembourg City, in 1851 and 1852 respectively. Together they had four children: Ferdinand (1820–1893) and Constantin-Joseph Antoine (1824–1872), and two daughters, Anne-Marguerite (1825–1883), who married Jean-François Eydt, the City of Luxembourg architect (1808–1884), and Jeanne-Catherine, who died a spinster (1822–1875).
After studying law in Paris, Ferdinand joined the Banque Internationale, which was founded in 1856. His parents' shop was sold in 1857. Constantin-Joseph Antoine served as a City of Luxembourg alderman from 1865 to 1866. Jean-François Eydt studied architecture in Dresden and Paris. He became the City of Luxembourg architect in 1834. He is known for leading the Luxembourg City Hall construction project, building the covered passageway on Rue du Curé, developing the first water main, and building the water reservoir at Fort Berlaimont. He retired in 1869, at the time when the fortress was being dismantled and the city was being urbanised. He then embarked on a second career as a private architect. Highlights of this stage of his career were the construction of Villa Vauban, Villa Schaefer, the Convict Épiscopal, and the Kind spring pavilion in Mondorf-les-Bains. Eydt was decorated with the Roter Adler Orden of the Kingdom of Prussia and awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the Oak Crown. Jean-François Eydt was accepted as a member of the "Children of Fortified Concord" Masonic Lodge on 28 April 1837.
