Joris or Georges Helleputte (1852 – 1925)[1] was a Belgian politician and neo-Gothicist architect. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Public Works and Minister of Railways, Post and Telegraphs.
Helleputte was born to a Catholic family. His father was Petrus Helleputte and his mother was Florentine Detemmerman.[2]
He graduated from Ghent University as a bridge and road engineer.[3]
Helleputte became a professor of architecture at the Catholic University of Leuven,[4] teaching architects like Raymond Lemaire and Raphaël Verwilghen.[1] He collaborated on projects with Theodoor Van Dormael.
He founded the Leuven Guild of Craft and Commerce, co-founded the Boerenbond in 1890,[3] and helped found the Belgian Volksbond.[4] He was also a member of the Royal Commission for Monuments.
Helleputte represented Maaseik in the Chamber of Representatives from 1889 until 1924.[4] From 1901 until 1910, he was Minister of Railways, Post and Telegraphs.[3] He then became Minister of Agriculture and Public Works from 1910 until 1918.[3]
He went with the exiled Belgian government to Le Havre in 1914.
In 1882, Helleputte married Louise Schollaert, the sister of prime minister Frans Schollaert, and they had no children.[5]
His brother-in-law was Louis Cloquet, the Belgian architect.[6]