Charles Mewès

Charles Frédéric Mewès (1858 – 1914) was a French architect and designer.

Biography

Charles Frédéric Mewès was born at Strasbourg. He came from a Jewish family of Baltic origin. The whole family left Alsace in 1870 during the Prussian invasion. At 20, he joined the office of Jean-Louis Pascal, a then famous architect and instructor at the École des Beaux-Arts. Pascal inculcated in his student a highly professional approach to architecture. Mewès competed for the Grand Prix de Rome in 1885 and graduated in 1886.

A brilliant and cultured man, Charles Mewès owned a refined library, especially in the architectural field. In October 1947 the journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects described him as "The true type of the French intellectual of good stock". He designed many admired buildings, including the colossal Château Rochefort-en-Yvelines, the Jules Ferry residence and his own residence at 38 Boulevard des Invalides in Paris. He himself became a teacher and taught many students from all over the world.

In 1900, he formed the company of Mewès and Davis with the British architect Arthur Joseph Davis, who had been his classmate at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Charles Mewès bought the small castle of Scharrachbergheim in Alsace, where he spent much time with his three children after the death of his wife in 1896. He died in 1914, at the age of 56.

Selected works

Hotels

• Hôtel Ritz Paris, 15 Place Vendôme (1897–1898) : transformation of the Hotel de Gramont for César Ritz, the first hotel in the world to have a bathroom for each room thanks to his invention of ventilation courtyards.
• Carlton Hotel, London (1899), the first institution in London combining the use of stone and steel.
• Ritz Hotel, 150 Piccadilly (London) for César Ritz (1904–1905): Mewès attempted to realise a unity of style, dominated by references to the Louis XVI style.
• Hotel Ritz Madrid (1910), in association with the Spanish architect Luis de Landecho.
• Hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastián (Spain) (1912).

Private Residences

• Château Rochefort-en-Yvelines (Yvelines) built between 1896 and 1904 for Jules Porges, inspired by the Hotel de Salm (Palais de la Légion d'honneur), but of double proportions. This grandiose project was not completed.
• Hotel Rodolphe Kann, 51 Avenue d'Iena (Paris): transformation for Calouste Gulbenkian of a building constructed by Ernest Sanson, in association with Emmanuel Pontremoli.
• Lutton Hoo (Bedfordshire, England) for Sir Julius Wernher, associate of Jules Porges: complete redevelopment, addition of attic, grand staircase, interior decor (1903-05).
• Polesden Lacey (Surrey, England): extension built for the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville to create an apartment intended to receive King Edward VII (1906).
• Coombe Court, renovation for Constance Gladys, Countess de Grey.

Ships and other

• Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall in London (1908–1911).
• Ocean liner Amerika (1905), interiors: first Ritz restaurant at sea.
• Ocean liner Imperator (1913), interiors: remarkable for the use of marble in abundance, particularly for the swimming pool and for the first class dining room.
• Ocean liner Vaterland (1914), interiors: in this ship Mewès was the first to divide the shafts of the funnels to provide a complete vista of the central public rooms from one end of the ship to the other.
• Spa establishment at Contrexéville (Vosges).

Persondata
Name	Mewès, Charles
Alternative names	Charles Frédéric Mewès (full name)
Short description	French architect and interior designer
Date of birth	1858
Place of birth	Strasbourg
Date of death	1914
Place of death