Hôtel van Eetvelde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels)* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| State Party | .svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, iv |
| Reference | 1005 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2000 (24th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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The Hôtel van Eetvelde is a town house designed in 1895 by Victor Horta for Edmond van Eetvelde, administrator of Congo Free State. It is located at 4 Avenue Palmerston in Brussels. Together with the Hôtel Tassel, the Hôtel Solvay and his own House and atelier it belongs to the core of epoch-making urban residences Victor Horta designed before 1900. The visible application of "industrial" materials such as steel and glass was a novel for prestigious private dwellings at the time. In the Hôtel van Eetvelde Horta also used a hanging steel construction for the façade. The interior receives additional lighting trough a central reception room covered by a stained-glass cupola. An 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 (2 Avenue Palmerston).
"The Hotel van Eetvelde in Brussels was designed in 1898[sic] by Victor Horta, undoubtedly the key European Art Nouveau architect. While most other architects flirted with the new style, Horta found it gave the best expression to his ideas. His skill is demonstrated in his ability to slip his domestic designs into narrow constricted sites. The interiors become of great importance as centres of light, which permeates through the filigree domes and skylights—usually in the centre of the building. The Hotel van Eetvelde is a remarkable example of the way Horta handled the situation and used it to highlight the imposing staircase, which leads up to the first-floor reception rooms."
John Julius Norwich (ed.), Great Architecture of the World, London, Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1975. p. 224
[edit] References
- Hôtel van Eetvelde on www.greatbuildings.com
- Françoise Aubry and Jos Vandenbreeden, Horta, Art Nouveau to Modernism, Ludion Press Ghent - Harry N. Abrams Publishers New York, 1996.
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