Laurent-Benoît Dewez (14 April 1731 – 1 November 1812) was a Belgian architect of Walloon origin. He is considered the most influential architect in the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

(present-day Belgium) from the second half of the 18th century. His architectural projects are of international stature and introduced a neoclassical style, with Italian and English influences, to the region. He designed a large number of

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

s and churches in Belgium, many of which were damaged after the French Revolution.

Early life

Dewez was born in Petit-Rechain near

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

on 14 April 1731. The abbot of the Abbey of

Saint Hubert In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

sent him on a study trip to Italy. There he worked with

Luigi Vanvitelli Luigi Vanvitelli (; 12 May 1700 – 1 March 1773), known in Dutch as (), was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an ea ...

and came into contact with

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric " ...

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

and

Charles-Louis Clérisseau Charles-Louis Clérisseau (28 August 1721 – 9 January 1820) was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending ...

. After a subsequent study trip to

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

in the company of

he worked briefly as an associate of the Adam brothers in London in 1758. In 1759 he came back to the

to start the rebuilding of Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval, a work which was never completed.

Professional life

In 1760 he settled 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 ...

. He mainly worked for abbeys and nobility in the

. In 1767 he was appointed court architect to the Governor of the

, Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine for whom he reconstructed the

Château of Mariemont The Château of Mariemont (; ) was a royal residence and Pavillon de chasse, hunting lodge for the List of governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, governors of the Habsburg Netherlands. It is located in Mariemont, Belgium, Mariemont, in today's ...

, which was demolished in the aftermath of the French Revolution. A masterpiece still preserved today is the

Château de Seneffe The Château of Seneffe or Château de Seneffe is an 18th-century château located in the municipality of Seneffe in the province of Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium. The château is property of the French Community of Belgium and serves as the "Centr ...

built between 1763 and 1768. His last great project was the new State Prison in

Vilvoorde Vilvoorde (; ; ; historically known as ''Filford'' in English) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city in the Halle-Vilvoorde district (''arrondissement'') of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Bra ...

. Dewez's adversaries, envious of his success as court architect, accused him of failures and fraud in the execution of this project. Due to these accusations, he fell into disfavour and was dismissed as court architect. On the invasion of the Austrian Netherlands by French revolutionary troops in 1793, Dewez fled to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. In the Czech capital, he designed and built some private mansions for the local bourgeoisie. In 1804 he returned to Belgium. He died relatively impoverished in

Groot-Bijgaarden Groot-Bijgaarden () is a village and deelgemeente in the municipality of Dilbeek, a suburb of Brussels, in Flanders, Belgium. Toponymy The name Bijgaarden is derived from the Germanic word for enclosure. The appellation "Great" (Groot) was attac ...

on 1 November 1812. His tombstone with a brief Latin description of his life and work, can still be seen in the exterior wall of the church of Groot-Bijgaarden.

Buildings designed

Abbey of Affligem Affligem Abbey (, ) is a Benedictine abbey in the historic village of Hekelgem, now in the municipality of Affligem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, to the north-west of Brussels. Dedicated in 1086, it was the most important monastery in the Duchy ...

(demolished) * Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval (demolished) * Abbey of Dielegem in

Jette Jette (; ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Fl ...

near

(partly demolished) * Village church of Bonlez * Abbey of Forest *

Vlierbeek Abbey Vlierbeek Abbey () is a former Rule of St. Benedict, Benedictine abbey to the north-east of Leuven in Belgium, in the sub-district Kessel-Lo. History On the abbey site in 1127 a priory was founded by Affligem Abbey, to whom Godfrey I of Louvai ...

* Abbey of Opheylissem today

Hélécine Hélécine (; ; , ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. It has a total area is 16.62 km2 and had total population of 3,068 as of 1 January 2006, giving it a population density of 185 inhabitant ...

Abbey of Gembloux Gembloux Abbey () was a Benedictine abbey near Gembloux in the province of Namur, Wallonia, Belgium. Since 1860, its buildings host the University of Liège's Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty and campus (previously known as Agronomical University o ...

* Abbot's palace of the Abbey of

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

, today Hôtel de Ville *

Abbey church of Bonne-Espérance An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

. * Church of

Harelbeke Harelbeke (; ) is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Harelbeke proper and the towns of Bavikhove and Hulste. On January 1, 2019, Harelbeke had a total population of 28 ...

Collegiate Church of Saint Begga The Collegiate Church of Saint Begga () is a collegiate church in Andenne, Belgium. Founded in the 7th century, the currently visible church dates from 1770 to 1775 and was designed by architect Laurent-Benoît Dewez. History The church traces i ...

, Andenne * Château de

Wasseiges Wasseiges (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Wasseiges had a total population of 2,517. The total area is 24.45 km² which gives a population density of 103 inhabitants per k ...

(demolished) *

Château Charles The Château Charles was a Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical palace in Tervuren, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was intended as summer retreat for Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands. However, it w ...

(demolished) *

(demolished) * State Prison of

* Valduc Abbey (reconstruction; demolished)

Gallery

Image:0 Château Royal de Laeken.JPG, Royal

Palace of Laeken The Palace of Laeken or Castle of Laeken (; ; ) is the official residence of the King and Queen of the Belgians and the Belgian royal family. It lies in the Brussels-Capital Region, north of the city centre, in Laeken (part of the City of ...

Image:SeneffeHinten.jpg,

, garden side Image:0 Seneffe 050813 (38).JPG, Château de Seneffe,

orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

Image:Vellereilles-les-Brayeux Bonne-Espérance 060110 (27).JPG, Abbey Church of Bonne-Espérance (with medieval tower) Image:070215 Tournai (46).JPG, Town hall (former Abbey) of

Image:01 Tournai AB1aJPG.jpg, Town hall (former Abbey) of Tournai, garden side Image:Forest 060106 (14).JPG,

Forest Abbey Forest Abbey () or Vorst Abbey () was a Benedictine abbey located in the Brussels municipality of Forest, Belgium. It was founded in 1105 and existed for nearly 700 years, until its partial destruction by fire in 1764. It was abolished in 1796 ...

, entrance gate Image:VorstAbdij1.JPG, Abbess residence of Forest Abbey Image:Harelbeke Sint-Salvatorkerk -4.JPG, Saint-Salvator Church in

Image:Harelbeke Sint-Salvatorkerk -18.JPG, Saint-Salvator Church in

, nave Image:Harelbeke Sint-Salvatorkerk -21.JPG, Saint-Salvator Church in

, side aisle Image:Andenne 050802 (24).JPG,

, interior Image:Andenne 050802 (26).JPG, Collegiate Church of Saint Begga, interior

References

*Dirk Van de Vijver, ''Laurent-Benoît Dewez (1732-1812), Architect in the Age of Enlightenment'', Leuven University Press

(2025). *Kevin Brown, ''Artist and Patrons: Court Art and Revolution in Brussels at the end of the Ancien Regime''
Dutch Crossing, Taylor and Francis
(2017). *Léon Dewez, 'Laurent-Benoit Dewez: premier architecte de la Cour de Bruxelles sous Charles de Lorraine', 1731–1812, in: ''Annales de la Société royale d'archéologie de Bruxelles''. - 35(1930); pp. 65–94. *Cathérine de Braekeleer, ''Laurent-Benoît Dewez 1731–1812'', Seneffe, 1992. *H. Gerson and E. H. ter Kuile, ''Art and Architecture in Belgium, 1600–1800'', Harmondsworth, England, 1960. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewez, Laurent-Benoit 1731 births 1812 deaths Architects from the Austrian Netherlands People from Verviers