Art Deco appeared in Belgium immediately after the First World War when Victor Horta began designing the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts in 1919.
Origins of Art Deco in Belgium
At the end of the First World War , the Art Nouveau fades to give way to the architectural styles that will mark the interwar period :
the Beaux-Arts style , denomination given in Belgium to the ultimate avatar of eclectic architecture
Art Deco
modernism
In Belgium, Art Deco results from a double American and Austrian influence:
on the one hand, the influence exerted by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright on Victor Horta who visited the works (as the unitary Temple of Oak Park ) during the two years he spent in exile in the United States during the First World War , from 1916 to 1918;
on the other hand, the influence exerted by Josef Hoffmann and the Viennese Secession via the Stoclet Palace :
on the one hand, some Brussels architects who adhere to geometric Art Nouveau (such as Léon Sneyers , Jean-Baptiste Dewin and Camille Damman )
on the other hand, on the new generation of post-war architects.
Characteristics of Art Deco in Belgium
columns and pilasters inspired by the antique :
facade and interior of the Palace of Fine Arts ( Victor Horta )
facade of the Brewery Park, Oostende (Joseph Van der Banck)
porch and lounge of the Hotel Haerens ( Antoine Courtens )
facade of Electrorail ( Antoine Courtens ) and ” La Magnéto Belge ” (Léon Guiannotte)
large hall of Charleroi city hall ( Joseph André and Jules Cézar )
hammered wrought iron ornaments :
entrance door and stair railing of Hotel Haerens ( Antoine Courtens )
entrance door and windows of the Electrorail seat ( Antoine Courtens )
staircase of the ” Palais de la Mad Song ” ( Antoine Courtens )
Gateway to the George Eastman Dental Institute ( Michel Polak )
stair railings and railings of the grand hall of the city hall of Charleroi ( Joseph André and Jules Cézar) …
geometric reliefs inspired by the ornamental repertoire of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright
reliefs crowning the facade of the Palace of Fine Arts ( Victor Horta )
reliefs crowning the façade and corner rotunda of the Hotel Haerens ( Antoine Courtens )
reliefs adorning the facades of the building built by Joseph Purnelle rue Royale 93
reliefs surmounting the pilasters of ” La Magnéto Belge ” ( Léon Guiannotte ) …
corner rotunda capped with a dome :
Palace of Fine Arts ( Victor Horta )
Hotel Haerens ( Antoine Courtens )
“Palace of the Mad Song” ( Antoine Courtens ) …
bas-reliefs, friezes and gilded moldings :
bas-reliefs with African motifs from the Eldorado cinema hall ( Marcel Chabot )
friezes and gilded moldings of the grand hall of the city hall of Charleroi ( Joseph André and Jules Cézar)
ceilings of the Park Brewery, Oostende ( Joseph van der Banck and Fres De Coene )
Dancing Roseland ( Arthur Meuleman )
marbles :
Interior of the Park Brewery, Oostende (Joseph Van der Banck)
facade of the cinema Métropole ( Adrien Blomme )
entrance hall of the “Palace of the Mad Song” ( Antoine Courtens )
large hall of Charleroi city hall ( Joseph André and Jules Cézar)
Marbrite siding according to the method of Arthur Brancart, Verreries de Fauquez :
facade of the Brewery Park, Oostende (Joseph Van der Banck)
entrance hall of the CPAS of the city of Brussels ( Jean-Baptiste Dewin )
street of Russia 9 in Saint-Gilles ( Adrien Blomme )
facades in cimorné :
mainly in rural areas
stained glass
façade and interior of the Brasserie du Parc, Oostende (Joseph Van der Banck)
typography :
façade and interior of the Brasserie du Parc, Oostende (Joseph van der Banck and Fres De Coene)
lamps :
interior of the Park Brewery, Oostende (Joseph Van der Banck and Fres De Coene)
Belgian Art Deco Architects
Art Deco Architects of Brussels
Here is the list of architects who adhere to Art Deco in Brussels, classified according to the beginning of their Art Deco production.
Architects from Art Nouveau are marked with an asterisk.
1919 Victor Horta *
1920 Leon Sneyers *
1920 Joseph Purnelle *
1922 Jean-Baptiste Dewin *
1922 Camille Damman *
1922 Michel Polak
1922 Albert Callewaert
1922 François Van Meulecom
1924 Léon Emmanuel Govaerts
1924 Marcel Chabot
1925 Albert Van Huffel
1925 Victor Dirickx
1925 Adolphe Staatje
1926 Fernand Lefever *
1926 Henry Lacoste
1926 Gaston Ide
1927 Adrien Blomme
1927 Eugene Dhuicque
1927 André Mineur
1928 Antoine Courtens
1928 Henri Wildenblanck
1928 Alexis Dumont
1930 Léon Guiannotte
1930 Sta Jasinski
1930 Georges Dedoyard
1931 Emile Van Averbeke *
1932 Arthur Meuleman
1932 J. Vermeersch
1933 Bytebier & Schaessens
1933 A. Warny
1934 Wilhelm Vermeiren
1935 G. Bossuyt
1938 Achille Michel
1938 Jean-Florian Collin
Art Deco Architects of Flanders
1923 Geo (Georges) Henderick * (Gent, Ghent)
1925 Robert Soebert (Sint-Niklaas, Sint-Niklaas)
1925 Maurice Demeester (Brugge, Bruges)
1930 Joseph Van der Banck (Oostende, Ostend)
1933 Édouard Mispelters ( Mena Brewery in Rotselaar)
Art Deco Architects of Wallonia
1925 Édouard Frankinet (Dinant and Namur)
1929 Vleugel (Mons): Mundaneum
1930 Joseph André (Charleroi): city hall, belfry
1930 Jules Cézar (Charleroi): city hall
1931 Léopold Thomé (Namur)
Art Deco Achievements of Art Nouveau Architects
Victor Horta :
1919-1928: Brussels Palace of Fine Arts, rue Ravenstein (commissioned in 1919, works from 1922 to 1928)
Leon Sneyers :
1920: Churchill Avenue, 187
1923: Léon Sneyers’ personal home, Avenue de l’Échevinage # 21
Joseph Purnelle :
1920: Théodore Verhagen Street, 22
1930: rue des Fortifications, 9
1935: rue Royale, 93
Jean-Baptiste Dewin :
1922: avenue Molière, 269 (gate to the owls)
1926: Medico-Surgical Institute of the Red Cross (and Edith Cavell Nursing School), at the corner of G. Brugmann Square and J. Stallaert Street
1926: Memorial to Dr. Depage, by sculptor G. Devreese and JB Dewin (in front of the building above)
1927: Jubilee Boulevard, 86-88 and Hollevoet Street, 1 to 5
1927-1928: Rue Montjoie, 241
1926-1932: new Saint Peter’s Hospital in Brussels, rue Haute No. 322
1932: maternity of the hospital of Ixelles, rue Léon Cuissez, 30
1938: Town hall of Forest , rue du Curé
Camille Damman :
1922-1923: La Cambre Palace, Avenue Emile Duray , 62-68 and Avenue de la Folle Chanson, 4
1925: Belliard Street, 197 (Art Deco building)
1925: parish parish of Our Lady of the Annunciation, rue Joseph Stallaert, 8-12
1930: Venezuelan Pavilion at the Universal Exhibitions of Antwerp and Liege
1933: Defacqz Street, 125-127
1934: Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation , Place Georges Brugmann
Edith Cavell Street, 10
Fernand Lefever :
1926: Seghers Avenue, 83
1927: Pantheon Avenue, 58
1928: Seghers Avenue, 90
1928: Seghers Avenue, 94
1931: Seghers Avenue, 85
Emile Van Averbeke
1931-1933: swimming pool of Veldstraat in Antwerp
Source From Wikipedia