Joseph Poelaert (21 March 1817 – 3 November 1879) was a Belgian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was entrusted with important projects in Brussels, such as Saint Catherine's Church, the

Church of Our Lady of Laeken The Church of Our Lady of Laeken (; ) is a Catholic parish church in the Brussels district of Laeken, Belgium. Built in neo-Gothic style, it was originally erected in memoriam of Queen Louise-Marie, wife of King Leopold I, to the design of th ...

, the Congress Column, the Royal Theatre of la Monnaie and above all, the Palace of Justice.

Life

Early life

Joseph Poelaert was born in Brussels on 21 March 1817. His father was Philip Poelaert (1790–1875), a former architecture student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. The young Poelaert also trained there under Tilman-François Suys, and then in Paris under Louis Visconti and Jean-Nicolas Huyot. He first came to attention with his winning competition entry for the Congress Column in 1849. He was made city architect of Brussels in 1856.

Palace of Justice

Poelaert's most significant commission was the colossal Palace of Justice of Brussels, the largest single building constructed in the 19th century and even copied in smaller scale at the Palace of Justice in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Peru. For the Palace of Justice's construction, a section of the Marolles/Marollen neighbourhood was demolished. Poelaert himself resided in the Marolles, only a few hundred metres from the building, on the /, in a house adjoining his vast offices and workshops and communicating with them. It is thus unlikely he saw himself as ruining the neighbourhood. Nonetheless, many angry citizens personally blamed Poelaert for the forced relocations, and the expression ''skieven architek'' (meaning "crooked architect") became one of the most serious insults in the dialect of the Marolles.

Family

Marriage

At the age of 42, on 25 August 1859 in Brussels, Poelaert married Léonie Toussaint, aged 19, born in Ixelles on 30 March 1840, and died in Brussels on 23 July 1912, daughter of Joseph Ferdinand Toussaint, notary public in Brussels and former Member of Parliament and of Philippine Anne Catherine Joséphine Kuhne. She was also the sister of Fritz Toussaint, a painter, and of Jules Toussaint.

Later life and death

Poelaert retired in 1874 to his villa at the Grande Grille, on 363, /, in the then-rural village of

Laeken (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality of the ...

. He died on 3 November 1879 and was buried in Laeken Cemetery under a miniature version of his Palace of Justice.

Works

* 1850–1859: Congress Column in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

* 1854–1874: Saint Catherine's Church in Brussels * 1854–1909:

in Brussels, site of the Royal Crypt of the

Belgian royal family The monarchy of Belgium is the constitutional and hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/queen of the Belgians and serves as the ...

* 1855–1857: Restoration of the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie in Brussels, after the fire of 1855 * 1866–1883: Palace of Justice in Brussels File:Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels - DSC06939.jpg,

Pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

of the Congress Column, Brussels (1850–1859) File:Théâtre de la Monnaie 1.JPG, Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, Brussels (1855–1857) File:Palais de Justice from Hilton.jpg, Palace of Justice, Brussels (1866–1883) File:Palais de Justice 1001.jpg, Bust of Poelaert at the Palace of Justice File:Tombe de Joseph Poelaert.JPG, Poelaert's tomb in Laeken Cemetery, Brussels File:Blason famille be Poelaert (Bruxelles).svg, Coat of arms of the Poelaert family

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poelaert, Joseph Architects from Brussels 1817 births 1879 deaths Burials at Laeken Cemetery Belgian neoclassical architects Knights of the Legion of Honour 19th-century Belgian architects Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels alumni