“I quickly realized,” says Houbart, “that I could not take in the entire oeuvre of Lemaire, with its many parts. So I limited myself to that which concerns urban renovation, which was of all the things he loved, the very closest to his heart. And so I left aside, in my doctorate, the entire matter of the conception of Louvain-la-Neuve.”

A gold mine

All during his active life, Raymond Lemaire gave proof of uncommon energy in instruction, research and in action in the field. However, he left a few published texts and an anthology of writings published by the CRMSF (Commission royale des Monuments, sites et fouilles; Royal Commission on Monuments, Sites and Excavations); he produced no major theoretical work. People like to say about him that he was trying – with good reason – to liberate himself from theories in order to get closer to the new needs of contemporary society.

“On the other hand”, Houbart continued, “he left us voluminous personal archives – which are now maintained at the KUL. These are precise, dated notes containing the various opinions he wished to give on concrete problems that were put before an art history professor, which is what he was, or before an expert in urban renovation, the person who conceived of a new city... These first-hand documents are a fabulous source. A real gold mine that had never been studied, until I came along.”

Houbart thus undertook the study of this “rich vein”, exploring it in detail. For her, this was the only way to do justice to the work of Raymond Lemaire. But she would also be showing that despite contradictions and failures, “He still clearly had things to say to us today.” Especially inasmuch as the theme of the restoration of ancient city centres remains an unresolved problem.

“Even if [Lemaire] didn’t always get praised in the press”, says Houbart, it is undeniable that he was a multi-disciplinary person, that he wanted to show respect for the past, but also to listen to those who were closest to heritage sites, to understand their intentions, to generate ideas through dialogue, with intelligence, humility and sensitivity.” Ideas such as “on a human scale”, “visual sequences”, “ways of being” and “de-globalization” were close to his heart.

In exploring Lemaire’s archives, Claudine Houbart also took the measure of his ability to transcend “old conflicts between art historians and architects... He had a synthetic vision of things. And the in-depth study of the methodology he put in place for the study of the city blocks that were to be restored is particularly instructive.”

Don’t sacrifice the ancient city to modernism!

In the few theoretical texts he did write, Lemaire did not hesitate to affirm that modernism had encountered its limits in the area of urban renovation. This was obvious, in his view, in the flagrant lack of human culture that was shown in some projects. “One must re-found the ancient city, in order to preserve it and improve the well-being of the people who live there”, he wrote.

“Raymond Lemaire had in this regard a scene designer’s view of things, at times “aestheticizing” things – even though he tried not to do that”, says Houbart. “A term he often used, and which I have tried to elucidate, concerned the “way of being” of the ancient city. He wanted to see us preserve as much as possible of the human scale, the equilibrium, the harmony.”