Charles Jean Ménart (1876 – 7 April 1956) 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 ...

who worked in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the early 20th century and specialised in designing

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

churches in the Baroque Revival style.

Early life

He was born in

Leuze-en-Hainaut Leuze-en-Hainaut (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018, it had a population of 13,886. The municipality consists of the following districts: Blicquy, Chapelle-à-Oie, C ...

, Belgium, to Émile-Jean Ménart, who was from France, and Agnes Joseph Meurisse. around 1876 and went on to study at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

from 1893 to 1898. He became a British citizen in 1897. He later settled in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

.C. J. Ménart
from GlasgowSculpture.com, accessed 29 March 2013 However, in 1903, he moved to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and went into partnership with John Stirling Jarvie from

, calling the business, Menart & Jarvie. Jarvie previously worked for

John Archibald Campbell John Archibald Campbell (June 24, 1811 – March 12, 1889) was an American jurist. He was a successful lawyer in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and Alabama, where he served in the state legislature. Appointed by Franklin Pierce to the Unite ...

and John Burnet.Charles Jean Ménart
from the ''Dictionary of Scottish Architects'' accessed 29 March 2013

Architect

On 16 December 1908, Ménart became a member of Glasgow Institute of Architects. From about 1907 onwards he did more and more work for the

Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annan ...

and the

Diocese of Aberdeen The Diocese of Aberdeen was originally believed to be the direct continuation of an 11th-century bishopric at Bishop of Mortlach, Mortlach in present-day Moray. However, this early date and the first bishops were based on a misinterpretation a ...

, work that would normally have gone to

Pugin & Pugin Pugin & Pugin (Floruit, fl. c.1873–c.1958) was a London-based family firm of Church architecture, church architects. History The origins of the Pugin & Pugin firm lay with the practice of Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875); he had worked in the ...

's. A lot of his work was in the Baroque Revival style, providing an alternative to the

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

of some of his contemporaries. He also produced secular buildings such as banks, tenements and shops; an example of this work being a development of a row of buildings from 10 to 12, the High Street,

Perth, Scotland Perth (; ) is a centrally located Cities of Scotland, Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about ...

Works

Some of his works include: * St Leonard’s Manse,

(1905) * St Peter's Church,

Rathven Rathven () is an ecclesiastical parish, village and former Civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the historic Banffshire, County of Banff, now in Moray, Scotland. The civil parish was last used as a census subdivision in 2001, with a pop ...

(1907). * Sacred Heart Church,

Dalmarnock Dalmarnock (, ) is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of the River Clyde opposite the town of Rutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods of Parkhead to the north-e ...

(1900–1910) * Remodelling of St Mary's Church,

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

(1908) * St Aloysius Church, Glasgow, (1908–1910), based on

St Aubin's Cathedral St. Aubin's Cathedral () is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic cathedral in Namur, Belgium, and the country's only cathedral in Baroque architecture, academic Late Baroque style. It was the only church built in the Low Countries as a cathedral afte ...

Namur, Belgium Namur (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Namur Province, Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of W ...

. * Interior of the

Blairs College St Mary's College, Blairs (commonly known as Blairs College), situated near Aberdeen in Scotland, was from 1829 to 1986 a junior seminary for boys and young men studying for the Priesthood (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic priesthood. Part o ...

chapel,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

(1910–11) *St Charles Borromeo, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne (1910-11) * Sacred Heart Church,

Torry Torry is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, lying on the south bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, River Dee. It was historically part of the county of Kincardineshire and was absorbed into the city of Aberdeen in 1891. Origin People have been ...

(1911) * St Joseph’s Church,

Helensburgh Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996. Histo ...

(1911) * St Joseph's Church, Roystonhill (1910–1914) * Dome and Interior of St Thomas's Church, Keith (1916) * The chapel for

St Joseph's College, Dumfries St Joseph's College in Dumfries, South West Scotland, is a Roman Catholic secondary school. It began as a Catholic boys' boarding school run by Marist Brothers. History St Joseph's College was founded in 1875 as both a boarding school and th ...

(1923). *St Joseph's Church, Stranraer (1924) addition of tower and alterations.St Joseph's Church, Stranraer
on ScottishArchitects.org.uk, retrieved 19 December 2018 File:Staloysius.jpg, St Aloysius Church, Glasgow File:St Joseph's Church (RC) Helensburgh - geograph.org.uk - 14689.jpg, St Joseph’s Church,

File:St Peter's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1482862.jpg, Interior of St Peter's Church,

. File:St Charles R.C. Church, Gosforth - geograph.org.uk - 613755.jpg, St Charles Borromeo Church, Gosforth

Later life

The Menart & Jarvie partnership was dissolved some time before 1911. Ménart continued to practise in Glasgow, designing a number of

First World War memorials First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

in Belgium, and returned to his native country in 1928 at the age of about 52. He died 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 ...

in 1956.

References

Belgian architects Baroque Revival architects 1876 births 1956 deaths Belgian emigrants to the United Kingdom Architects of Roman Catholic churches {{Belgium-architect-stub

Early life

Architect

Works

Later life

See also

References