Charles Benvignat


Charles Benvignat was a French architect, especially active in Lille, then undergoing major urban expansion.

Life

Benvignat moved to Lille as a young man. As a brilliant student in the architecture class at the Ecoles académiques, he was sent to the Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied as a painter as well as an architect. Returning to Lille, he was entrusted with several private projects and church restorations. In 1833 he was made the Ecoles académiques's professor of architecture and held the post for 30 years. From 1842 he was responsible for several major public works:
He died without issue in 1877 and his tomb was paid for by the town council of Lille.