Under his direction, a number of architects designed some of the finest examples of collective habitations. Louis van der Swaelmen (1883–1929), a landscape architect and an early town planner, promoted the idea of garden cities. ![]() The main task was to provide sound and hygienic houses for the working classes. Although it was quite rare that an international architect would be commissioned for a work in Belgium, this does illustrate the international recognition Belgian architecture received before World War I.ĭuring the Interbellum, Belgian architecture held the function of rebuilding the country. Reacting against the exuberant curvilinear forms of Art Nouveau, the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann designed the Palais Stoclet (1911, Brussels) with simple and pure cubic forms stressing their planarity and rectangularity, an implicit reference to classicism. This spatial nucleus acts as a symbolic womb from which art could be generated from within the family core to fight the ugliness that prevailed in contemporary society the latter concept would become the basic tenet of his theoretical writings. Designed to the smallest details, this two-story house comprises a series of irregular polygonal rooms organized around a central hall with an upper balcony. This project brought him an influx of both private and public commissions in Brussels such as the Maison du Peuple (1899), the architect’s own house (1898), the Aubecq House (1899), the Van Eetvelde house (1901), and the Waucquez Department Store (1906).īy 1895 Henri van de Velde, a prolific theorist and the first industrial designer, had designed his own house Bloemenwerf (1895, Uccle/Ukkel, Brussels) as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). Horta’s design for the Tassel House (1893, Brussels) already revealed all the characteristics of this new style: a new language of elegant curvilinear forms, a dynamic manipulation of interior spaces, and a decorative use of steel and wrought iron as structural frames. Art Nouveau was born as a reaction against the eclectic styles that had prevailed during the 19th century, such as neoclassicism, promoted by the academies, and neo-Gothic styles, taught at the St. “It’s quite big, with original mosaic tile floors, high ceilings and a huge wooden staircase.” Most recently, the owners painted the foyer walls black and white, coating the staircase in glossy black to match.OVERVIEW / GALLERY / ARCHITECTS / BUILDINGS / MOREĪt the turn of the century, Belgian architecture played a vital role in the promotion of modern architecture with its Art Nouveau style, developed by the pioneers Victor Horta and Henri van de Velde. ![]() “Without a ground floor, the home wouldn’t be easy for a family with small kids, but the owners fell in love with the entrance hall,” Mr. “Because of her background, the home has also been immaculately maintained.”Ī grand marble-accented foyer makes up the home’s entire first level. “She changed the walls every five years so she wouldn’t get bored,” said Matthias Vertommen of Sotheby’s International Realty Belgium, the listing agent. ![]() The wife, a now-retired interior designer, took a whimsical approach to redecorating the four-story, 4,760-square-foot home. Sans Souci’s owners sold off the mansion in 2007 to its current owners, a Dutch couple. A Four-Bedroom Townhouse in Central Antwerp $1.9 MILLION (1.56 MILLION EUROS)ĭesigned by the Belgian architects Alfred Portielje and Jan De Braey in 1926, this four-bedroom Beaux-Arts mansion in Central Antwerp, Belgium, was originally part of Résidence Sans Souci, a luxury apartment complex next door.
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