Description
This Art Deco mansion is set in a large property, closed off from Tervueren Avenue by a fence between blue-limestone pillars. The entrance is marked by a canopy above the pavement leading into a gallery that opens onto a vestibule. To its right is a large wing of service rooms with a kitchen, pantry, laundry room, servants’ quarters, and garages.
To the left, a double-height hall serves three main rooms: a large music room and two rooms towards the garden: a smoking room and a dining room. A smaller living room is located on the street side. On the first floor, a gallery around the hall serves all the rooms. To the east, the master bedroom and its terrace are located above the music room. It is supplemented by a dressing room and a large bathroom on the garden side. The floor also accommodates bedrooms and bathrooms for the children and a governess. The attic houses the servants’ quarters. The project is a total work of art as the spaces are inseparable from the interior decoration realised by artists such as Gustav Klimt, Fernand Khnopff, and Leopold Forstner, while the furniture, chandeliers, and silverware were designed by the architect. The exterior spaces are designed around water features, pergolas, hornbeam and yew trees, etc. The sober Carrara marble façades are pierced by white latticed windows surrounded by bronze strips and topped by copper roofs. On the west side of the building, a small tower is topped by a sculpture by Franz Metzner.
Exterior view
Facade detail
Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.