Coste was born in Marseille, where his father was one of the leading joiners. Showing intellectual and artistic promise, Pascal began his studies in the studio of Penchaud, architect of the département and the municipalité. In 1814, he was received into the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His time in Paris was a pivotal one in his life - there he met the geographer Edme François Jomard, who put him in touch with the viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali, who took Coste on as his architect in 1817. In 1825 Coste returned to France with an impressive series of drawings of the architecture of Cairo, but he soon went to Egypt once again at Mehmet Ali's request, where Mehmet Ali made him chief engineer for Lower Egypt. Coste remained there for four years, during which time he accumulated many sketches, but he found the Egyptian climate difficult and returned to France in 1829. There he became a professor of architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, thanks to the links he had kept up with Penchaud. He remained in this post until 1861, when he was one of the founder members of the intellectual centre known as the Athénée. , Isfahan In parallel with these activities he travelled around France and to Germany, Belgium and Tunisia and produced several authoritative works on architecture - his Architecture arabe earned him a place on the French king's embassy to the Shah of Iran. In Iran Coste and the painter Eugène Flandin were authorised to visit Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Shiraz and the ruins of Ecbatana, Bistun, Taq-e Bostan, Kangavar, Pasargadae and Persepolis, where he made many sketches. On his return via Baghdad, he saw the ruins of Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Babylon. He continued via Nineveh, to which the archaeologist Paul Émile Botta was also travelling to begin his excavations. His middle eastern journey aroused the interest of Louis-Philippe I and gained Coste the post of chief architect of Marseille in 1844. In 1846, the president of the Chambre de Commerce, M. Luce, commissioned from Coste the Bourse on Marseille's Canebière. Coste was also the originator of two other architectural projects in Marseille - the construction of the faculté aux allées de Meilhan, and a museum with château d'eau at Longchamp. He also began construction on the abattoir d'Arenc, only completed in 1851. A tireless traveller, even aged over 80 he visited Spain, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia and Italy. He left 30 albums of drawings on his death, now held at the Bibliothèque de Marseille, though some of his essays were never published. Towards the end of his life he was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur. He died aged 92 and was buried at the cimetière Saint-Pierre in Marseille.
Notes and souvenirs , edited by Cayer, 1878, 2 vols. 8vo, portr.
Unpublished
Itinerary of the French Embassy in Persia under the Comte de Sercey, and scientific trips of two artists committed to this mission
Monuments of Europe... drawings... together... from 1832 to 1872... 11 flight. with 1187 pieces, for Britain, the Scandinavian countries, the Russian empires, German, Austro-Hungarian, Switzerland, Berlgique, Holland, Spain and Italy.
Monuments of France... 1828-1876... , one volume with 1491 flat.
Monuments of North Africa, 8 volumes with 1253 flat.
