Denis Honegger et la chapelle Saint-Éloi à Hautmont

Abstract

Denis Honegger’s Chapel of Saint-Eloi at Hautmont. Denis Honegger’s work is an interesting and original example of the transition to Modernism in architecture. A faithful disciple of Auguste Perret, he also became acquainted with the ideas of Modernism during the time of his apprenticeship. His work first came to notice in Switzerland when he won the competition to build the University of the Miséricorde and the Church of Christ the King in Freiburg. In France he is mainly known for his social housing projects. The catholic chapel of Saint Eloi, which he worked on from 1959 to 1962, belongs to his first project of the kind, situated in the town of Hautmont in the North of France. The chapel is the only one of Honegger’s buildings to be inscribed today on the French register of national monuments. The church, commissioned by the archdiocese of Cambrai, was completed after several changes in the plan thanks to the patronage of the Forges de la Providence, one of the region’s main iron and steel works. Continuing in the spirit of the buildings he designed in Switzerland a few years earlier in collaboration with Fernand Dumas, Honegger at the same time adapted his ideas and proposals to the wishes of his client and to the specific context of the project. Adopting a functional and rational approach, the architect also produced a design that reflects his singular creative process and the diversity of his sources of inspiration. In this sense, the project of the chapel of Saint Eloi is a perfect starting point to examine the traditional ideal, which fed Honegger’s art.