Building
Avenue Palmerston 3 and Rue Boduognat 14, Hôtel Deprez-Van de Velde, chimneys on the corner of the two streets (1986).
Avenue Palmerston 3 and Rue Boduognat 14, Hôtel Deprez-Van de Velde, extension work on Rue Boduognat (1910).
Avenue Palmerston 3 and Rue Boduognat 14, Hôtel Deprez-Van de Velde, extension work (1910).
Avenue Palmerston 3 and Rue Boduognat 14, Hôtel Deprez-Van de Velde, detail of the gate on Avenue Palmerston (1986).
Avenue Palmerston 3 and Rue Boduognat 14, Hôtel Deprez-Van de Velde, detail of the façade on Rue Boduognat (1985).
Wanting to build a pied-à-terre in Brussels for his future wife and himself, Georges Deprez, the new head of the Val-Saint-Lambert ice cream parlours, turned in 1896 to the architect Georges Hobé, who advised him to call on the services of a certain Victor Horta. Horta had to operate under various constraints: a small corner plot, a front garden 5 metres deep to be enclosed with a fence, and reused furniture to be integrated into the interior decoration.
Area
Quartier des squares
Protected heritage in Brussels
Learn more
Inventory of architectural heritage
He designed for Deprez a fully-fledged four-storey mansion, made entirely of stone. The two façades and the chamfered corner connecting them featured over 50 doors and windows, clearly indicating the functions of the various spaces: the semi-basement for kitchen and services , the ground floor was used for business and the floor above it for receiving guests, while the owner had his home on the upper floors.
In 1910, the new owner extended the neighbouring building and transformed the interior. While retaining the building's style and materials, he irreparably put paid to the architect's characteristic asymmetry. The building would subsequently be extended upwards in the 1960s to accommodate offices and apartments.
Despite all the alterations, the skill that went into the execution of the stonework is still clearly apparent, particularly in the poetry of the stems emerging from the plinth and rising up the façade in supple curves, like climbing plants, or the elegance of the chimney stacks connected by a small arch on the corner.
Nearby
Area
Quartier des squares
Protected heritage in Brussels Learn more Inventory of architectural heritage
Protected heritage in Brussels Learn more Inventory of architectural heritage
He designed for Deprez a fully-fledged four-storey mansion, made entirely of stone. The two façades and the chamfered corner connecting them featured over 50 doors and windows, clearly indicating the functions of the various spaces: the semi-basement for kitchen and services , the ground floor was used for business and the floor above it for receiving guests, while the owner had his home on the upper floors.
In 1910, the new owner extended the neighbouring building and transformed the interior. While retaining the building's style and materials, he irreparably put paid to the architect's characteristic asymmetry. The building would subsequently be extended upwards in the 1960s to accommodate offices and apartments.
Despite all the alterations, the skill that went into the execution of the stonework is still clearly apparent, particularly in the poetry of the stems emerging from the plinth and rising up the façade in supple curves, like climbing plants, or the elegance of the chimney stacks connected by a small arch on the corner.
