Belgian architect and politician
Arthur Théodore Verhaegen (31 August 1847 in Brussels – 5 September 1917 in Elsene) was a Gothic Revival Belgian architect and a politician of the Catholic Party, one of the founders of Belgian Christian democracy. He was a grandson of the politician and lawyer Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen.
Life.
Verhaegen began his career as a civil engineer at Charleroi. In 1872, after his marriage to Claire Lammens, he moved to Ghent and dedicated himself to arts and crafts in the Gothic Revival style. In 1874 Verhaegen joined the Guild of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke, an association for the study and promotion of medieval art, becoming editor of the guild's "Bulletin" in 1881 and general secretary in 1884. The guild helped shape his attitudes both to social questions and to arts and crafts.
He played an important role in the restoration of the Gravensteen, the former castle of the counts of Flanders in Ghent, and took part in other restoration projects, as well as being involved in the design of two new churches in Ghent. He worked closely with Henri Geirnaert, who taught at the Sint-Lucas School of Architecture. His writings on architecture, history and art history led to an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven.
Verhaegen's concern for social questions led to his active involvement in Catholic social congresses, in founding the newspaper "Het Volk", and in the early organisation of Christian Democracy. In the 1890s he became a member of the Belgian Parliament for Eeklo.
During the First World War he remained in occupied Belgium, communicating sensitive military information to the government-in-exile. Discovered, he was put to forced labour by the occupier that broke his health. A few days before Verhaegen's death, the exiled King Albert declared him a baron and a grand officer of the Order of Leopold.
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