Art Nouveau and Art Deco in Schaerbeek

In the early years of the twentieth century, the village of Schaerbeek was transformed by the construction of the prestigious Avenue Louis Bertrand.

DSC06245-compresse-scaled.jpg

In the early years of the twentieth century, the village of Schaerbeek was transformed by the construction of the prestigious Avenue Louis Bertrand. A new, leafy, residential district attracted wealthy residents who commissioned the best architects of the day. Victor Horta, Gustave Strauven, François Hemelsoet and Henri Jacobs reinvented the single-family house, the apartment building and even the school there. A few years later, a short distance away, part of the railway line linking Brussels-Luxembourg station with Brussels-North station was moved, and the very beautiful Avenue Paul Deschanel was laid out along the former line. It became a veritable repository of inter-war architecture, between Art Deco and Modernism, containing a mix of single-family houses and apartment buildings, often with spectacular facades.