Basic Biographical Details Name: | Charles Jean Menart (or Ménart) | Designation: | | Born: | c. 1876 | Died: | Before 1938 | Bio Notes: | Charles Jean Menart (or Ménart) was born c.1876 in Belgium. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1893 to 1898. He commenced practice in Glasgow and in 1903 took into partnership John Stirling Jarvie from Perth, opening a branch office there in the name of Menart & Jarvie. Jarvie had been a pupil of David Smart and had sought wider experience with John Archibald Campbell, Alexander Cullen and John Arthur, formerly of Burnet's office. The work of the partnership has a marked Burnet/Campbell character and it therefore seems possible that Menart had also been in that office as an apprentice or assistant, and that they originally met there.
Menart's Glasgow practice was mainly for the Archdiocese of Glasgow. From about 1907 onwards he gradually obtained a share of its business which had previously been almost exclusively Pugin & Pugin's, but he also did work for other dioceses, particularly Aberdeen. He offered a Roman baroque alternative to Sebastian Pugin Powell's Gothic and Romanesque, but his Torry church shows that he could offer a stylish Auvergne Romanesque if required. Jarvie's Perth practice was a more general one and undertook work for the Church of Scotland.
Menart became a member of Glasgow Institute of Architects on 16 December 1908. The Menart & Jarvie partnership was dissolved some time before 1911. Menart continued to practise in Glasgow, designing a number of First World War memorials in Belgium, and returned to his native country in 1928 at the age of about fifty-two, perhaps with the intention of recommencing practice there; he had an address in Brussels by 1930. Johnston says that he was active for the period 1895-1935, though his source is not given. He had died in Brussels by 1938. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Perth, Perthshire, Scotland | Business | | | | | 34, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | Before 1893 | After 1898 | | | 241, West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | Before 1909 | 1923 | | | Methven Road, Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, Scotland | Private | 1920s | | | | 221, West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1923 | 1929 | | | 135, Avenue des Combattants, Genval, Belgium | Private | 1929 | | | | 68, Square Marie-Louise, Bruxelles/Brussels, Belgium | Private | Before 1930 | After 1934 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployersEmployees or Pupils
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Johnston, W T | 2003 | Artists of Scotland | | Officina Publications CDROM | | | RIBA | 1930 | The RIBA Kalendar 1930-1931 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Personal information from Alexander Wright; additional research by Iain Paterson (including information from Frank Worsdall) |
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