Monumental architecture (also called classicistic monumental architecture in Belgium or monumentalist academicism) is one of the four styles that dominated architecture in Belgium during the 1930s, alongside Art Deco, Modernist architecture and architecture. of the Beaux-Arts style.
History
International context
During the interwar years, a type of official architecture developed in many European countries consisting of a monumental variant of neoclassical architecture.
Since the 1930s were those of totalitarian regimes, this style is often mistakenly reduced to totalitarian architecture, such as Stalinist architecture, Nazi architecture, Italian fascist architecture and Portuguese fascist architecture ( suave Portuguese style ). that we find it at the same time in democratic countries such as Belgium, France (where the most famous example is the Palais de Chaillot on the Place du Trocadero in Paris, facing the Eiffel Tower ), the Great Brittany or the United States.
The Nazi architect Albert Speer himself acknowledges in his memoirs: ” It was later claimed that this style (neoclassical) was the hallmark of the state architecture of totalitarian regimes. This is totally inaccurate. It is rather the mark of an era, recognizable in Washington, London or Paris, as well as in Rome, Moscow or in our Berlin projects.
This style of the 1930s is the result of the assertion of states in the architectural field, as a result of their growing involvement in the economy caused by the First World War and economic crises and the development of the concept of economic planning, territorial, etc. It is therefore the expression of the interventionist state, whether it is a democratic welfare state or a totalitarian state.
Belgian context
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, a name given in Belgium to the ultimate culmination of eclectic architecture
Art Deco
modernism
The fourth style that marked the inter-war period in Belgium, the monumental style, appeared ten years later, in 1929 (with the Centenaire stadium ), and developed throughout the 1930s.
After an interruption caused by the Second World War, it will resume from 1948 to a second boom throughout the 1950s and end in the 1960s with the construction of the Royal Library Albert I.
In Brussels, he strongly influenced public architecture (Heysel Grand Palace, Centenaire Stadium, Gare du Nord, Central Station, Ravenstein Gallery, National Bank, Palais des Congrès, Royal Albert I Library ) as well as that of the business world. (Shell Building, General Insurance of Trieste, FEB, Belgolaise, Chambon building of the CGER, De Nederlanden…)
It is also found in the provinces, as in Charleroi (Palais des Expositions, Palace of Fine Arts).
Brussels context
In Brussels, outside the Heysel Plateau, almost all the monumentalist buildings are concentrated on the axis that includes the Gare du Nord, Boulevard Pachéco, Boulevard Berlaimont, the Boulevard de l’Empress, the Cantersteen, the Mont des Arts and the boulevard de l’Empereur.
Their concentration on this axis was favored by the completion of the railway junction North-Midi whose site has caused the destruction of entire neighborhoods and the piercing of these boulevards.
Monumental Architects
Here is the list of active architects in Brussels and in the provinces, chronologically classified according to the beginning of their monumentalist production.
Only their monumentalist works are mentioned here, to the exclusion of their possible Art Deco or Modernist creations.
We refer to the detailed articles for sources and references.
In Brussels
1929 Joseph Van Neck
1929-1930 Centenaire Stadium (later known as the Heysel Stadium and King Baudouin Stadium )
1933-1935 Grand Palais des Expositions du Centenaire (Grand Palais du Heysel or Palais, erected as part of the Universal Exhibition of 1935 of which Van Neck was the chief architect)
1929 Alexis Dumont
1929-1932 Back facade of the Deutsche Bank headquarters, rue des Bouchers 48 (rear of the eclectic building on rue d’Arenberg 5-9, built in 1912-1914 on the plans of the Berlin architect Jessen and completed by Dumont from 1929 to 1932)
1931-1934 Seat of the company “Belgian Shell”, rue Ravenstein 48-70 (with Marcel Van Goethem )
1936 Headquarters of General Insurance of Trieste ( Generali ), rue Ravenstein 26-46 (with Marcel Van Goethem )
1954-1958 Ravenstein Gallery, rue Ravenstein 6-24 (with Philippe Dumont )
1955-1958 Headquarters of the “Federation of Industries of Belgium” (later renamed “Federation of Enterprises of Belgium” or FEB), rue Ravenstein (with Philippe Dumont)
1931 Marcel Van Goethem
1931-1934 Headquarters of the Belgian Shell company, rue Ravenstein 48-70 (with Alexis Dumont )
1936 General Insurance of Trieste ( Generali ), rue Ravenstein 26-46 (with Alexis Dumont )
1940-1957 Headquarters of the National Bank of Belgium, boulevard de Berlaimont 3 (project from 1940, construction site from 1946, first stone laid in 1948)
1948-1957 Imprimerie of the National Bank of Belgium, boulevard de Berlaimont 56 (in front of the BNB)
1937 Victor Horta
1937-1957 Brussels-Central station (Horta project in 1937, managed by Horta from 1937 to his death in 1947 and by Maxime Brunfaut from 1947)
1938 Paul Bonduelle
1938 Queen Astrid Memorial (21 July Square, Laeken )
1938 Ch. Defalque and F. Maury
1938-1939 New British Company, Place de Brouckère 9-13
1945 Maxime Brunfaut
1945-1957 Brussels-Central station : Maxime Brunfaut takes care of the shipyard from 1945 and inherits it from the death of Horta in 1947
1949-1953 Brussels Congress Station, Boulevard Pachéco 20
1952-1954 Air Terminus of Sabena, Boulevard of the Empress 11-15
1947 Alfred Chambon
1947-1953: “Chambon” building of the CGER, rue du Fossé aux Loups 48
1951 André and Jean Polak
1951-1956: seat of the Belgolaise, Cantersteen,
1952 Paul Saintenoy and Jacques Saintenoy
1952-1956 Brussels North Station (clock tower and ticket hall)
1954 Philippe Dumont
1954-1958 Ravenstein Gallery, rue Ravenstein 6-24 (with Alexis Dumont ) 6, 13
1955-1958 Headquarters of the “Federation of Enterprises of Belgium” (FEB), rue Ravenstein 4 (with Alexis Dumont )
1956 Former headquarters of the insurance company “De Nederlanden”, boulevard de l’Impératrice 60-72 (with Georges Riquier, currently occupied by Generali )
1959 Development of the entrance hall of the headquarters of the Belgian Shell company 11
1959 Building located at numbers 1 to 5 of Boulevard de l’Empereur
1954 Jules Ghobert and Maurice Houyoux
1954-1969 Mont des Arts architectural complex 1, 13 including:
the Palais des Congrès
the Palace of the Dynasty
the Royal Albert I Library
1957 Edgar Cosyns and Marcel Chabot (ABRA Architects)
1957 “Currency – Building”, rue du Fossé aux Loups 28
In Wallonia
1951 Joseph André
1951 Exhibition Center Charleroi
1955 Palace of Fine Arts of Charleroi
1953 G. Pepermans
1953 Nivelles Town Hall 22
Source From Wikipedia