1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



339 



FALL OF THE BELFRY OF VALENCIENNES AND TRIAL 

 OF THE ARCHITECT. 



INGE as this hitter may sound in tlie ears of an English archi- 

 li'cl, it is not less strange than true, that trials of professional men in 

 France for homicide, produced by negligence or ignorance, are by no 

 means of rare occurrence. It will be remembered that on occasion 

 of the accident, and great loss of life some time since on the Ver- 

 sailles Railway, an engineer and, if we mistake not, several other 

 persons were placed upon their trial and found guilty of homicide. 



In the case which follows, the architect charged with the repairs 

 of the tower, was adjudged guilty by the local tribunal, and with a 

 strange mockery of justice, was condemned to expiate the crime of 

 homicide, by paying the trifling fine of 10U francs. The Com Royale, 

 however, before which the cause was afterwards tried on appeal, re- 

 versed this decision and acquitted the architect. The following par- 

 ticulars respecting the destruction of the tower and the subsequent 

 trials have been gleaned from the Gazette ties Tribimaux; and although 

 the description of the building itself is very meagre, yet the account 

 will show to our readers the kind of responsibility which attaches to 

 professional men in France for the failure of their works. It is pro- 

 bable that in point of law the circumstances under which an architect 

 becomes responsible, as described by the prisoner's own advocate, 

 will equally apply in this country. 



Most cilies in 'lie north of France possess those ancient towers called 

 oelfries, which are monuments raised in the 12th and ] 3th centuries, since 

 which time they have stood, like huge sentries, watching over the public 

 safety and the liberty of the inhabitants. In 1237 the generosity of Jane of 

 Flanders endowed tbe city of Valenciennes with land for the site of a belfry, 

 and in the interval from 12J0 to 1260 the edifice was completed. Had this 

 belfry of Queen Jane been more respected by man than by the band of time, 

 it might still have been standing. Such was not to be its fate, however ; for 

 in 1782, under tbe provostship of M. de Pujol, it was subjected to the un- 

 happy devices of some architect, wdio imposed upon the old tower a roof of a 

 new construction, formed by a kind of petit dome, ornamented with vases in 

 the true Pompadour style, presenting a most ridiculous contrast to the severe 

 architecture of the middle ages ; but not conicnt v. itb this profanation, the 

 architect erected on the top of the tower 20 enormous stone consoles, weigh- 

 ing nearly a million and a half of pounds, which immense weight so deranged 

 the stability of the structure as to throw it out of the plumb line, and open 

 fissures between the courses of stones large enough to admit tbe penetration 

 of water. Thus the old belfry, which had gloriously withstood the cannon 

 balls of 1793 and 1815, was found in 1837 to be labouring under serious infir- 

 mities. 



At this lime the Sieur Petiau, who had recently quitted tbe School of Fine 

 Ails at Paris, where he hail acquired the most honourable distinctions, was 

 recalled into the arrondissement Which bad given him birth, in the capacity 

 of architect to the city of Valenciennes. 



The dilapidated state of the old belfry, its rents and crevices, the shattered 

 buttresses and loose stones, which occasionally threatened the destruction of 

 passers by, could not escape his attention. In special reports of the 22nd 

 July, 1837, and 3rd February. 1S38, he pointed out tbe urgent necessity for 

 reparation, and proposed at the same time a plan for extending the base of 

 the edifice upon the rock which served for its foundation, for encasing parts 

 of (he old and decayed masonry, and for tying the whole together in a 

 strong and substantial manner. 



This plan was not acted upon by the municipal council. Another archi- 

 tect was consulted, who merely advised the underpinning and reparation of 

 the counterforts. M. Visconti, an eminent architect from the capital, ex- 

 pressed himself in 1811 to the same effect. A design for effecting this work 

 was tben required from the architect Petiau, who accordingly transmitted 

 one to the committee of the municipal council. This design, after a delay of 

 4 years, was at length decided upon, and received the approval of the com- 

 mission of buildings for the department of the north. 



The works of repair were commenced in October 1842, and were vigorously 

 prosecuted till January 1843. The inclemency of the season tben caused a 

 suspension till the beginning of March, and in April, soon after their re- 

 commend iu» ni, (Hie of the counterforts was observed to be rent by a large 

 crevice. The lie-bars, to which the architect resorted, could not stop the 

 progress of this crevice, the filling of stones continued to increase, and by 

 the 6th of April a general alarm had spread through the city. The architect 

 had still faith in the solidity of the mass, and in tins lie was confirmed 

 by" the opinion of the Parisian architect, who had reported in| 1841, " that 

 there was nothing alarming in ibe state of tbe structure.' The mayor per- 

 sonally visited the tower on the 6ih of April, and requested the architect to 

 furnish him with a report in writing, which was remitted to him in the even- 

 'ng of tbe same day. 



lu this report the architect pointed out the various accidents which bad 

 occurred since tbe commencement of the works, ami in reference to the dan- 

 ger of passing in tbe neighbourhood of the town, expresses himself in the 

 following terms : "all human prudence cannot prevenl occasional masses, ot 

 various sizes and in various st iges of decay, from detaching themselves and 

 bringing down in their fall sounder parts of the masonry, to the serious risk 

 of the public safety. I think, then, that every precaution should be taken 

 by the administration to avert the danger. At the same time, although 

 accidents are to be feared from the fall of loose stones, I firmly believe that 

 the mass is solid, and that there is mare danger in the counterforts than in 

 the walls." 



Throughout the 7th of April the symptoms'increased.and during nine suc- 

 cessive hours M. Petiau was personally engaged in superintending the works 

 and in hastening the evacuation of the neighbouring houses. At a quarter 

 before 4 o'clock he was still within the tower, examining all tbe symptoms 

 of ruin which it presented, and was not able up to that time to detect any 

 immediate danger. Scarcely, however, had he quitted the place, when 

 several loud cracks were heard, and the whole tower fell bodily over, while 

 a huge cloud of dust expanded in every direction, giving to view, as it slowly 

 cleared away, a scene of destruction impossible to describe. The once lofty 

 toner was now reduced to a stunted irregular pile, varying from 3 to 10 feet 

 in height. Many of tbe neighbouring houses were seriously injured by tbe 

 fall, and several dead and wounded victims were buried beneath a mountain 

 of ruins. One unfortunate man was precipitated from the top of the tower, 

 which was 240 feet in height ; several persons who were passing were also 

 killed, as well as some who were left in the adjoining houses. 



This frightful catastrophe, the occasion of so much misery, both public 

 and domestic, could not escape the notice of justice, and accordingly the 

 procureur general was speedily on the spot. An inquiry was instituted, and 

 the architect who had been directing the work became the subject of judicial 

 proceedings. A commission of architects appointed to examine into the oc- 

 currence, pointed out several particulars in which the city architect had 

 acted on his own responsibility, anil enumerated various precautions which 

 he should have taken. The greater part of these criticisms, however, failed 

 to have any effect, in consequence of the contradictory evidence which was 

 afterwards adduced. 



Notwithstanding this, the Tribunal of Valenciennes, in its judgment of the 

 12th August, although admitting in favourof the accused several extenuating 

 circumstances, such as tbe activity he had displayed, the care with which he 

 had conducted his operations, and the inspection which he had made at tbe 

 peril of his own life, only half an hour before the fatal occurrence, yet 

 adjudged him guilty of homicide through imprudence, and condemned him 

 to pay a fine of 100 francs. They imputed to him tbe fault of not. having 

 sufficiently announced the dangerous state of flu .i, ire structure, although 

 according to the opinion of other architects, this danger was sufficiently 

 obvious. 



The affair has since been tried before the Com- Royale, in consequence of 

 an appeal from the inferior tribunal. On this occasion tbe accused was de- 

 fended by M. Hure, who made an able speech in his behalf, 



"Tbe arts themselves," said the advocate, "bring at one time great re- 

 wards to their professors and at another great punishments. At the end of 

 some perilous enterprise, the architect has sometimes to boast of the palm of 

 victory and the chaplet woven by honourable success; while not unfrcqucntly 

 an unhappy failure overwhelms him with shame, and hurls him mercilessly 

 down from the precipice of fame. Mark with what sobriety and caution, 

 therefore a vindictive public should descend into tbe arena where the cham- 

 pion lies already conquered! With what timidity should justice herself' 

 invade the temple of the fine arts, to slay over again the already vanquished 

 hero! Let us inquire who is M. Petiau, the person here accused. He bus 

 lately returned to his native city of Valenciennes, from the School of the 

 Fine Arts at Paris— he is one in whom the most brilliant talents ha»e been 

 developed by the most skilful masters, and who, decorated in five successive 

 contests with the most eminent distinctions, has at length returned to fix 

 himself in his own country at the foot of this fatal tower, with the modest 

 but honourable title of Architect to the town. 



" I shall not pretend so to interpret the ancient usages and laws upon this 

 subject as to contend through them for the irresponsibility of the accused, 

 but I do boldly maintain that it is in architecture as in medicine, in surgery, 

 and in military strategy, that the innocence or guilt of men is not to be 

 measured by their success or failure, but by the degree in which palpable 

 error can be proved against them. Before an unfortunate artist can be made 

 the subject of punishment, it must be established upon clear evidence that 

 some inexcusable fault has been committed, some gross olleiice against the 

 principles ot art, some error of omission or commisjion so obvious as to fall 

 under tbe notice of the senses, and then, when Ibis has been clearly proved 

 by correlation of cause and effect, to have led to the accident in question, it 

 is time to condemn." 



Proceeding, then, to the special circumstances of the case, the advocate 

 shows that M, Petiau is not even the author of the project of reparation 



4fi* 



