Hôtel Solvay
| Hotel Solvay |
Hôtel Solvay(French)
Hotel Solvay(Dutch) |
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| General information |
| Architectural style |
Art Nouveau |
| Location |
Brussels, Belgium |
| Current tenants |
Louis Wittamer |
| Construction started |
1898 |
| Completed |
1900 |
| Design and construction |
| Client |
Armand Solvay |
| Architect |
Victor Horta |
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| Official name: Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) |
| Type: |
Cultural |
| Criteria: |
i, ii, iv |
| Designated: |
2000 (24th session) |
| Reference #: |
1005 |
| State Party: |
Belgium |
| Region: |
Europe and North America |
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The Hôtel Solvay is a large Art Nouveau town house designed by Victor Horta on the Avenue Louise in Brussels. The house was commissioned by Armand Solvay, the son of the wealthy Belgian chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay. For this wealthy patron Horta could spend a fortune on precious materials and expensive details. Horta designed every single detail; furniture, carpets, light fittings, tableware and even the door bell. He used expensive materials such as marble, onyx, bronze, tropic woods etc. For the decoration of the staircase Horta cooperated with the Belgian pointillist painter Théo van Rysselberghe. The Hôtel Solvay and most of its splendid content remained intact thanks to the Wittamer family. They acquired the house in the 1950s and did the utmost to preserve and restore this magnificent dwelling. The house is still private property and can only be visited by appointment and under very strict conditions. The edifice is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Awards
The UNESCO commission recognized the Hôtel Solvay as UNESCO World Heritage in 2000.
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The four major town houses - Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta - located in Brussels and designed by the architect Victor Horta, one of the earliest initiators of Art Nouveau, are some of the most remarkable pioneering works of architecture of the end of the 19th century. The stylistic revolution represented by these works is characterised by their open plan, the diffusion of light, and the brilliant joining of the curved lines of decoration with the structure of the building. |
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See also
References
- Françoise Aubry and Jos Vandenbreeden, Horta, Art Nouveau to Modernism, Ludion Press Ghent — Harry N. Abrams Publishers New York, 1996.
External links