Description
This building is located on one of Brussels most interesting roundabouts, home to several Art Deco buildings (Residence Ernestine, Palais de la Cambre, and Palais du Congo). It owes its name to the Avenue de la Folle Chanson, commemorating the sculpture with the same name by Jef Lambeaux (1852–1908). The entrance to the building is located at the corner of the site, under an imposing rotunda.
A stunning vestibule leads to a naturally lit stairwell with two lifts. On top of a basement level with private cellars, the lower ground floor is occupied by garages, while the first floor houses two apartments and a caretaker’s lodge. The upper levels are occupied by two apartments per floor comprising a large hall, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a terrace to the back. Each apartment has three orientations. The top floor is dedicated to the service staff and is slightly recessed to allow terraces. The upper part of the corner rotunda houses a collective room accessible to all the residents. The interior spaces are richly decorated, as can be seen in the entrance hall’s polychrome marble floors and walls, geometrically decorated ironwork, and light-box fixtures on the columns. The eight-level concrete elevation covered with washed terrazzo shows typical Art Deco mouldings. Four five-storey-high bay-windows are found on the two sides of the building, connected by the corner rotunda.
Exterior view
View of entrance
Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.