Augustin Goovaerts (1885 – August 15, 1939) 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 ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, born in

Schaerbeek (French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and S ...

, Brussels in 1885. Throughout his life, he designed a number of important urban architectural buildings, mainly in Colombia, where he worked as the department of Antioquia's official architect during the 1920s. Some of his works have been declared National Monuments in Colombia. He died at the age of 58 in Brussels due to leukemia caused by

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

Biography

Augustin Goovaerts was born in

(Brussels) in 1885. He was the son of Celina and Alfonso Van Engelgeny (1847-1922), a leading intellectual in the European academic circles, as a librarian in Antwerp and later as a senior archivist of the Kingdom of Belgium. His father was also a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, historian,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

, editor. From very young, Augustin Goovaerts began studying drawing at the Academy of Arts in Brussels, which he later completed in addition to architecture and engineering at the University of Leuven. Mandatory practices for students at Belgian universities allowed him to have direct contact with the work of

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...

, who was commissioned, the old Abbey of La Cambre, and the Dutchman Hendrik Berlage. He took up residence in Etterbeek, Brussels neighborhood where he began his architectural production, such as: the family home of Goovaerts, completed in 1907, and residences for families Desmet-Sillis and Desvaux-Berleur. He worked for a time in the office of the architect Edmond Serneels (1875-1934), who influenced the work of Goovaerts. There, he was responsible for the construction of the Church of Saint-Antoine, in Etterbeek, completed in 1910. In 1914, he volunteered as a soldier at the beginning of the First World War. He was discharged from military service because of wounds suffered in combat. However, he continued as an active military organizer of a bilingual education network in Calais, the Belgian military barracks on the border with France. Before that, Goovaerts had taught drawing at the Belgian Military Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation. He served military service until 1918. The initial period of his work in Medellin time between 1921 and 1924. During this period he created his largest projects, almost none of which is preserved, such as the Junín Theater, Cellular Jail La Ladera, and Ismael Correa Calpe, which hosted the mayor of Medellin in the twenties.

Style

When Goovaerts arrived in Colombia, he came with a lot of knowledge to implement. There was division between two stylistic tendencies: a very traditional, orthodox and academic type and an oriented position with the avant-garde, especially the art nouveau and

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. The first was reflected more in public buildings and the second in his work for individuals. Goovaerts was involved in the design and construction of more than 40

religious building A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is some ...

Selected works

* National Palace, Colombia (1925) * Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture, Colombia (1920-1930) * Edificio Gonzalo Mejía, Medellín, Colombia (1922-1924) (Junín Theatre and Hotel Europa) * Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Colombia (1924-1939) * College of Medicine,

University of Antioquia The University of Antioquia ( es, Universidad de Antioquia), also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university located primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, with regional campuses in Amalfi, Andes ...

* Church of San José of El Poblado (1926) * Monument in the

San Pedro Cemetery Museum The San Pedro Cemetery Museum is a cemetery and museum located in Medellín, Colombia. It was constructed in 1842, named a museum in 1998, and declared a National Monument of Colombia in 1999. This place is an integral part of the cultural and arc ...

for Camilo Restrepo (1926) * Chapel for the San Pedro Cemetery Museum (1925)

Gallery

File:Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores-Fachada-Medellin.JPG, Church of Our Lady of Dolores, Colombia File:2018 interior del centro comercial Palacio Nacional - Medellín.jpg, National Palace of Medellín File:Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesus-Medellin.jpg, Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Colombia

References

Sources

* * * https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/augustin-goovaerts-a-belgian-palace-builder-in-colombia {{DEFAULTSORT:Goovaerts, Agustin 1885 births 1939 deaths Belgian architects People from Schaerbeek Deaths from leukemia Deaths from typhoid fever Deaths from cancer in Belgium Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Belgian expatriates in Colombia Colombian architects