John von Collas


John von Collas born Jean de Collas was a late Baroque architect of the 18th century.

Biography

Collas was born in Sedan to Antoine de Collas and Elisabeth née de Vilain. He was a French Huguenot, his father was a counsellor of William III of Orange, the later William III of England.
After the Edict of Fontainebleau of 1685 the family was forced to flee from France and moved to the Netherlands and further to London in 1688. Collas grew up at the estates of
William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford and became a Page of Russell’s Granddaughter Mary Butler, he carried the train of Mary II of England at her coronation in 1689.
Aged 22, John von Collas was a member of the Royal Society and started a journey to Asia. Initially on his way through he arrived in Königsberg in autumn 1701 and decided to stay in East Prussia. He became a Royal Prussian Engineer, counsellor, director of the Geometer and respected scholar. He was mentioned as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1704.
Collas became the landlord of several estates in East Prussia like Dommelkeim, Naujeninken, Brandwehten, Perkuhnen, Sauerwalde, Laugallen, Kraupischkehmen,, Weißenstein/ Gutenfeld and owned houses in Wehlau and Borchersdorf, in total he possessed about 2,720 Hectare.
Collas was a successful architect and projected the baroque palaces of Finckenstein, Friedrichstein, Dönhoffstädt and Jäskendorf.
Collas married Charlotte Pelet, daughter of the merchant Pierre Pelet, owner of Weißenstein-Gutenfeld manor, and Maria Elisabeth née Salomon on 30 April 1716 in Königsberg.
He died at his manor at Weißenstein.