Jacques Balmat it turns out, possesses an extraordinary mountaineering sense, an unerring instinct for the crevasses and seracs of the glaciers ..." After the successful ascent, Balmat collected the reward offered 25 years before by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure to the first man who could climb Mont Blanc. On 3 August 1787 he assisted de Saussure himself to reach the summit with a party of about 17 people. During the Napoleonic Wars, Savoy fell under French control, and Citizen Jacques Balmat became a member of the council of the commune. He led an unsuccessful attempt to introduce Merino sheep into the Chamonix valley.
Gabriel Davioud are the popular Saint-Michel Fountain in Place Saint-Michel, the old Palais du Trocadéro (demolished 1937), and the two theatres at the Place du Châtelet (the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Théâtre de la Ville.) In 1868, Davioud succeeded Jacques Landry as mayor of Houlgate, where he stayed until 1871. His mandate was interrupted when he was appointed "capitaine du génie" during the Franco-Prussian War. Noted for his work in Paris, he built a single villa in Houlgate, "La Brise", on the "Route de Caumont". Gabriel Davioud Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect.