Joseph Poelaert
- Category : Building-Trades-Architect-Planner
- Type : GE
- Profile : 3/5 - Martyr / Heretic
- Definition : Split - Small (52)
- Incarnation Cross : RAX The Vessel of Love 1
Biography
Belgian architect, made city architect of Brussels in 1856.
Poelaert's most significant commission was the colossal Law Courts of Brussels, the largest single building constructed in the 19th Century and even copied in smaller scale at the Palace of Justice in Peru. During construction the inhabitants of the Marollen quarter, the working-class neighbourhood site of the Law Courts, gave Poelaert the nickname “Skieven Architect” (roughly, ‘the crooked architect’) because the long period of construction drove many inhabitants out of their houses, with the help of the local police. The nickname refers also to "chief architect" because many of the workers of the Law Courts were English. The local inhabitants corrupted "chief architect" to "skieven architect", with a totally different meaning in the Brussels dialect.
Poelaert died on 3 November 1879. He was the great-uncle of Belgian architect Henri Van Dievoet.