The former workshop and residence of the coal merchant Édouard Taymans

This complex, the work of the architect Paul Hamesse, displays the Vienna Secession style and was built for an art enthusiast: coal merchant Édouard Taymans. He had already called upon Hamesse’s talents for the conversion of his family home. In this case, the architect designed a plan organised around a central courtyard surrounded by workshop stores and the coal merchant’s residence.

FACADE

On the side overlooking the street, you will see the home of the coal merchant and his family, behind a façade decorated with lovely multi-coloured slabs and topped with a corner turret presenting geometric Art Nouveau decoration. You will also see some beautiful decorative details such as the door handle, the letter box, the ironwork window rails on the second floor, the bright orange putlog caps and the ceramic frieze between the first and second floors. This presents alternating motifs of plant wreaths and miners’ lamps, a reference to the source of the owner’s wealth.

The rear building is accessible via a large glazed gallery (to the left of the house) framed by two blue stone pillars sculpted with geometrically-inspired motifs and decorated with a bas-relief.

The façade of the rear building, divided by imposing pilasters, presents an explosion of colours on its topmost level: green, yellow and plum-coloured bricks are combined with the ochre and white glazed bricks of the facing.

INTERIOR

The interior was also designed by Hamesse, down to the smallest detail: the woodwork on the staircases, the tiling and the door handles all display geometric Art Nouveau lines.