The design of which French chateau caused Louis XIV to select Louis Le Vau to build Versailles?

Louis XIV selected Louis Le Vau (1612 – October 1670) to build Versailles because of what he saw at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. This is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, France. It is about 34 miles southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France.

Built between 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. When the Vaux-le-Vicomte was created, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun all worked together to make the chateau the large-scale work of art that it turned out to be. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style", a way of combining architecture, interior design, and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is a true and complete example of the style started in the 17th century.

Today, in the 21st century, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is loved and appreciated throughout the world for its overall style, beauty, and complete architectural structure. Many of its elements are studied and copied by architectural students, professional artists, professional builders, etc. It is a place where experts and others look to find many forms of artistic, stylistic, emotional, and aesthetic inspiration.