Hôtel van Eetvelde

The Hôtel van Eetvelde (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a historic town house in Brussels, Belgium. It was designed by Victor Horta for Edmond van Eetvelde, administrator of Congo Free State, and built between 1895 and 1898, in Art Nouveau style. It is located at 4, / in the Squares Quarter (eastern part of the City of Brussels). Two extensions, also designed by Horta, were added between 1898 and 1901.

Together with three other town houses of Victor Horta, including Horta's own house and workshop, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000 as the core of epoch-making urban residences that Horta designed before 1900.

Building

Main building

The visible application of "industrial" materials, such as steel and glass, was a novel for prestigious private dwellings at the time.Template:Rp In the Hôtel van Eetvelde, Victor Horta also used a hanging steel construction for the façade. The interior receives additional lighting through a central reception room covered by a stained glass cupola.

• General view
  General view
• Upper part of the main façade
  Upper part of the main façade
• Panel of mosaics
  Panel of mosaics

Extensions

A first extension to the house was designed by Horta in 1898. This building has a more conventional, beautifully detailed, sandstone façade. It was designed to house a garage, an office for van Eetvelde, as well as supporting apartments, and therefore had a separate entrance at 2, /. This house later became the home of the architect Jean Delhaye, a collaborator of Horta, who became, after the latter's death, the great defender of his work.

In 1901, Horta added a second extension to the house, on the other side this time, on half of a plot acquired by van Eetvelde, who directly sold the other half to his neighbour.

• The first extension at 2, Script error: No such module "Lang"./Script error: No such module "Lang".
  The first extension at 2, /
• Eastern façade of the first extension
  Eastern façade of the first extension
• Entrance of the first extension
  Entrance of the first extension
• The second extension
  The second extension

Interior

The interior of the central building revolves around an octagonal rotunda surmounted by a skylight. This rotunda and its glass roof were reconstructed in 1988, as they were originally designed by Horta.

Horta combined here a rest area and a movement area; the rotunda has the function of a small living room or Winter Garden, but it is surrounded by a circulation area that provides the connection with the living room, the dining room and stairwell.Template:Sfn

The cupola with its coloured stained glass windows is supported by eight steel columns, which "are integrated into this vegetal world like rods".Template:Sfn The dining room door is adorned with opalescent glass whose tint changes according to the intensity and incidence of light.Template:Sfn

• The Winter Garden
  The Winter Garden
• Detail of the Winter Garden
  Detail of the Winter Garden
• Doorway with stained glass
  Doorway with stained glass

Awards

The UNESCO commission recognised the Hôtel van Eetvelde as UNESCO World Heritage in 2000, as part of the listing 'Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta': Template:Quote

See also

• Art Nouveau in Brussels
• History of Brussels
• Culture of Belgium
• Belgium in the long nineteenth century

External links

• Template:Sister-inline
• Hôtel van Eetvelde on greatbuildings.com