Ferdinand Cheval was a French postman who spent 33 years of his life building an "Ideal Palace" (French "Palais idéal") which is regarded as an extraordinary example of naïve art architecture. Ferdinand Cheval lived in Châteauneuf-de-Galaure, in the Drôme "département" of France. He had left school at the age of 13 to become a baker's apprentice but eventually became a postman. Cheval began the building in April 1879. Wikipedia
A few years ago we saw a TV programme by Jarvis Cocker about naive art where he visited Le Palais Idal du Facteur Cheval at Hauterives in theDrme region of central France about 40 km north-east of Valence. www.mhomes.ukgo.com/palais2.htm
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Ferdinand Cheval. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval
