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58-429: Guimard designed Castel Henriette for Mme. Hefty in 1899, the commission also including a secondary house, a garage and a fountain. The site was gently sloping, with roads on three sides. Completed in 1900, the villa was one of a series of early residential projects in which he increasingly integrated interior and exterior into complete works of the "New Art". The exterior combined elements with medieval resonance; however in

116-603: A competition the most beautiful and original new building facades (the Concours de façades de la ville de Paris ). The winner for the 16th arrondissement was Guimard's Castel Béranger. In the same year, Guimard was selected to design the entrances of the new stations of the Paris Metro, making him the most prominent figure in the French Art Nouveau. Guimard also took the step, unusual at the time, of launching

174-591: A glaze (enduit) molded metal windowframes, and a roof covered with zinc. In 1922 he built a house on square Jasmin with these materials. In 1930 he designed a country house, la Guimardiere, where the pipes for the plumbing became a decorative element, featured on the outside, a precursor of the Centre Pompidou. It was demolished in 1969. As World War II approached, he left France and died in New York in 1942. Nearly all of his Metro stations were removed, and he

232-495: A great sensation of space. A central court went up the height of the building, bringing light from the skylight above. On the main floor, the oval-shaped salons were open to the courtyard, and also received light from large bay windows. It was possible to look from one side of the building to other from any of the salons on the main floor. The Horta House and Studio, now the Horta Museum , was Horta's residence and office, and

290-458: A highly original use of steel frames and skylights to bring light into the structures, open floor plans, and finely-designed decorative details. His later major works included the Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis (1895–1899), Brussels' Centre for Fine Arts (1923–1929) and Brussels-Central railway station (1913–1952). In 1932, King Albert I conferred on Horta the title of Baron for his services to

348-643: A more personal and original style. The interior decoration was also diverse and personal. In the late 1890s, there was growing criticism of the identical facades of the buildings along the Paris boulevards built during the Second Empire of Napoleon III and his prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann ; they were described as monotonous and boring. In 1898 the City government encouraged variety by organizing

406-488: A new plan of reinforced concrete with a steel frame. He had intended the concrete to be left exposed in the interior, but the final appearance did not meet his expectations, and he had it covered. The concert hall itself is in an unusual ovoid, or egg shape, and is accompanied by art galleries, meeting rooms, and other functional rooms. The building is placed on a complex hillside site, and occupies eight levels, much of it underground. It also had to be designed to avoid blocking

464-555: A public relations campaign based on the building, promoting the new style as a step forward. It was the first time that an architect treated a simple residential building as a major work; in the 20th century this became one of the characteristics of the modernist revolution in architecture. Guimard built one other Art Nouveau house in Paris; his own residence, the Hotel Guimard, between 1909 and 1913, at 122 Avenue Mozart. For his own house, he moved away from ornament and expressed

522-569: The Avenue Louise/Louizalaan in Brussels, was constructed for Armand Solvay, the son of the chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay . Horta had a virtually unlimited budget, and used the most exotic materials in unusual combinations, such as marble, bronze and rare tropical woods in the stairway decoration. The stairway walls were decorated by the pointillist painter Théo van Rysselberghe . Horta designed every detail including

580-546: The Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis ("House of the People"), the headquarters for the Belgian Workers' Party (POB/BWP). This was a large structure including offices, meeting rooms, a café and a conference and concert hall seating over 2,000 people. It was a purely functional building, constructed of steel columns with curtain walls. Unlike his houses, there was virtually no decoration. The only recognizable Art Nouveau feature

638-558: The Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis , demolished in 1965, as mentioned above. However, several of Horta's buildings are still standing in Brussels up to this day and some are available to tour. Most notable are the Magasins Waucquez , formerly a department store, now the Belgian Comic Strip Center and four of his private houses ( hôtels ), which were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 under

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696-600: The Museum for Fine Arts in Tournai , although it did not open until 1928 due to World War I . The Magasins Waucquez (now the Belgian Comic Strip Center ) was originally a department store specializing in textiles. In its design, Horta used all his skill with steel and glass to create dramatic open spaces and to give them an abundance of light from above. The steel and glass skylight is combined with decorative touches, such as neoclassical columns. After Waucquez's death in 1920,

754-561: The Rue Américaine / Amerikaansestraat , and also became a full member of the Belgian Royal Academy. The post-war austerity meant that Art Nouveau was no longer affordable or fashionable. From this point on, Horta, who had gradually been simplifying his style over the previous decade, no longer used organic forms, and instead based his designs on the geometrical. He continued to use rational floor plans, and to apply

812-573: The 16th arrondissement of Paris . It was designed by the architect Hector Guimard , and built between 1895 and 1898. It was the first residence in Paris built in the style known as Art Nouveau . Architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942) was born in Lyon and attended the School of Decorative Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was in charge of the construction of the Pavilion of Electricity at

870-580: The 1889 Paris International Exposition, and between 1891 and 1893 he built several private houses and a school in Paris, all in the traditional styles. In 1894, at the age of twenty-seven, Guimard traveled to England and to Belgium, where he met the Belgian architect Victor Horta , and saw the Hotel Tassel which Horta had built in 1893–94 in what later became known as the Art Nouveau style. It

928-765: The Art Nouveau idea of modeling after nature in the form of the building itself. Beside the Metro station, Guimard's other Paris works included a Theater/Concert Hall, the Salle Humbert de Romans, which was opened in 1901 and demolished in 1905, and the Synagogue on Rue Pave in the Marais (1913). Between World War I and World War II Guimard turned his attention to experiments in building houses with prefabricated materials, including bricks of molded concrete, covered with

986-525: The Castel Béranger, the architectural historian and critic Simon Texier wrote: "The Art Nouveau had as its characteristic trait a naturalist approach, which made a building or a simple object into a work which was at the same time complex, in motion, and unified by its lines." There were many elements of the new building that were neo-Gothic, though Guimard's interpretation was very far from the pure 13th century style advocated by Viollet-le-Duc . It

1044-566: The French architect Hector Guimard , who used it in the first Art Nouveau apartment building he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro . He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron , steel and glass. Horta's later work moved away from Art Nouveau, and became more geometric and formal, with classical touches, such as columns . He made

1102-780: The Royal Academy, he was awarded the Grand Prize in architecture. In the years that followed, Horta joined the Central Society of Belgian Architecture, designed and completed three houses in a traditional style, and took part in several competitions. In 1892, he was named head of the Department of Graphic Design for Architecture at the Free University of Brussels , and promoted to professor in 1893. At this time, through lectures and exhibitions organised by

1160-638: The Second World War, but during the 1960s was used as a setting in several films: Sans merveille  [ fr ] (1963), La Ronde (1964), La Métamorphose des cloportes (1965), What's New Pussycat? (1965) and A Flea in Her Ear (1968). The house was demolished in April 1969 despite efforts to save it. It has an entry in the Base Mérimée , and furniture designed for it is in

1218-549: The artists' group Les XX , Horta became familiar with the British Arts and Crafts Movement , the developments in book design, and especially textiles and wallpaper, which influenced his later work. In 1893, Horta built a town house , the Autrique House for his friend Eugène Autrique. The interior had a traditional floor plan, due to a limited budget, but the facade previewed some of the elements he developed into

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1276-475: The bronze doorbell and the house number, to match the overall style. The Hôtel van Eetvelde is considered one of Horta's most accomplished and innovative buildings, because of highly original Winter Garden interior and the imaginative details throughout. The open floor plan of the Hôtel Van Eetvelde was particularly original, and offered an abundance of light, both horizontally and vertically, and

1334-404: The building began to languish away, and in 1970, the firm closed its doors. Jean Delhaye, a former aid of Horta, saved the building from demolition, and by 16 October 1975, because of its connection to Horta, it was declared a protected historical site. Now a museum of a particular Belgian speciality, the comic strip , it also has a room devoted to Horta. In 1906, Horta accepted the commission for

1392-465: The building but also the furniture to match his particular style. His furniture became as well known as his houses; a displays of his furniture were shown at the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris, and the 1902 Turin Exposition of Modern Decorative Arts . It was typically hand-made, and the furniture for each house was different. In many cases the furniture lasted longer than the house. Its drawback

1450-704: The collection of the Bröhan Museum in Berlin and decorative elements in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, which also has architectural plans and furniture designs and drawings. Castel Henriette had historicising elements. Art historians have judged it variably. In 1962 Robert Schmutzler , a specialist in the development of the style, found it "[reminiscent] of

1508-549: The construction of the Brussels Metro system. Beginning in about 1900, Horta's buildings gradually became more simplified in form, but always made with great attention to functionality and to craftsmanship . Beginning in 1903, he constructed the Grand Bazar Anspach, a large department store , with his characteristic use of large windows, open floors, and wrought iron decoration. In 1907, Horta designed

1566-526: The end of 1915, he traveled to the United States, where he gave a series of lectures at American universities, including Cornell , Harvard , MIT , Smith College , Wellesley College and Yale . In 1917, he was named Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lecturer and Professor of Architecture at George Washington University . On Horta's return to Brussels in January 1919, he sold his home and workshop on

1624-501: The end only the facade and the furnishings were saved by the City of Brussels . The facade was disassembled and put into storage, and many proposals were made for its reconstruction, but none were carried out. Some of the furnishings are now on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. While Horta was building luxurious town houses for the wealthy, he also applied his ideas to more functional buildings. From 1896 to 1899, he designed and built

1682-713: The field of architecture. After Art Nouveau lost favor, many of Horta's buildings were abandoned, or even destroyed, though his work has since been rehabilitated. Four of the buildings he designed in Brussels were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000: the Hôtel Tassel, the Hôtel Solvay , the Hôtel van Eetvelde and the Horta House (currently the Horta Museum ). Victor Horta

1740-536: The first time he brought to architecture the "sense of spontaneous compression and release" he had previously developed in two dimensions. In 1978 it was similarly characterised as a "masterpiece" and the most explicit embodiment of the "underlying unease of Art Nouveau" and compared to "some inter-stellar object ... which appears to have landed on its site ... in a fortuitous way", and in 2006 Laurence des Cars called it "the high-water mark of Guimard's lyrical and oneiric idiom". Georges Vigne wrote in 1985 that it

1798-585: The full Art Nouveau style, including iron columns and ceramic floral designs. In 1894, Horta was elected President of the Central Society of Belgian Architecture, although he resigned the following year following a dispute caused when he was awarded the commission for a kindergarten on the Rue Saint-Ghislain / Sint-Gissleinsstraat in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels, without a public competition. Throughout his life, Horta

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1856-457: The interior, as he had at Castel Béranger , he left riveted girders visible in ceilings. Guimard also designed the layout of the garden, which had a bulge evoking in the plan the pupil of an eye, facing the main salon; the entrance was on one corner, at 30 to the garden front. In 1903 Guimard removed the look-out tower, which had become unstable, and added a bow window on the façade facing Rue des Binelles. Castel Henriette fell into disuse before

1914-469: The latest developments in building technology and building services engineering . The Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, a multi-purpose cultural centre designed in a more geometric style similar to Art Deco . Horta developed the plans for the Centre for Fine Arts beginning in 1919, with construction starting in 1923. It was completed in 1929. It was originally intended to be built of stone, but Horta made

1972-497: The medievalistic robber-baron castles of the prosperous upper bourgeoisie" and judged that it "[could] scarcely be said to represent Art Nouveau at its best". In 1972 Dennis Sharp , while echoing this assessment in calling it a "pastiche", wrote that it does exemplify the "allegiance to eccentric asymmmetrical design" introduced by Art Nouveau, and in 1970 F. Lanier Graham saw it as representing "the highest flight of Guimard's architectural imagination", "a triumph of deliberate tensions",

2030-419: The narrow building sites in Brussels. He achieved this by use of large windows, skylights, mirrors, and especially by his open floor plans, which brought in light from all sides and from above. The Hôtel Aubecq in Brussels was one of his late houses, made for the industrialist Octave Aubecq. As with his other houses, it featured a skylight over the central staircase, filling the house with light. Its peculiarity

2088-566: The new Brugmann University Hospital (now the Victor Horta Site of the Brugmann University Hospital). Developed to take into account the views of the clinicians and hospital managers, Horta's design separated the functions of the hospital into a number of low-rise pavilions spread over the 18 hectares (44 acres) park based campus, and work began in 1911. Although used during World War I , the official opening

2146-550: The route of the new railway between Brussels' main stations, and then because of World War I. Construction finally began in 1937 as part of the plans to boost the economy during the Great Depression , before being delayed again by the outbreak of World War II. Horta was still working on the station when he died in 1947. The station was finally completed, to his plans, by his colleagues led by Maxime Brunfaut . It opened on 4 October 1952. Horta typically designed not only

2204-427: The same time). In 2000, it was designated, along with three other town houses designed soon afterwards, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In designating these sites, UNESCO explained: "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." The Hôtel Solvay , on

2262-566: The same year, he became director of the Fine Arts section of the Belgian Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1937, he completed the design of his final work, Brussels-Central railway station . In 1939, he began editing his memoirs. He died on 8 September 1947 and was interred in Ixelles Cemetery in Brussels. Art Nouveau fell out of fashion in the 20th century and many of Horta's buildings were abandoned, or even destroyed, most notably

2320-490: The structure in the new style. He began designing the Castel Béranger in 1895, Guimard became involved in every detail of the project, designing the furniture, ornamental ironwork, carpets, glass, wall paper, door locks and doorknobs. Guimard did not forget his debt to Horta; when the building was done, Guimard sent him an album of the designs of the building with the inscription, "to an eminent master and friend, Victor Horta, affectionate homage from an admirer." Describing

2378-596: The view from the Royal Palace , on the hill just above it. In 1927, Horta became the Director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, a post he held for four years until 1931. In recognition of his work, Horta was awarded the title of Baron by King Albert I in 1932. In 1910, Horta began working on drawings on his most ambitious and longest running project: Brussels-Central railway station . He

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2436-469: Was "no doubt neither more successful nor more beautiful" than other works from what he called "Guimard's all-out baroque period", but that the tower made it "something at once playful and conspicuously original". 48°49′22″N 2°12′15″E  /  48.822887°N 2.20413°E  / 48.822887; 2.20413 Castel B%C3%A9ranger The Castel Béranger is a residential building with thirty-six apartments located at 14 rue de la Fontaine in

2494-464: Was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. He was a fervent admirer of the French architectural theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels (1892–93), often considered the first Art Nouveau house, is based on the work of Viollet-le-Duc. The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used in turn influenced many others, including

2552-427: Was a slight curving of the steel pillars supporting the roof. As with his houses, the building was designed to make a maximum use of light, with large skylights over the main meeting room. It was demolished in 1965, despite an international petition of protest by over 700 architects. The materials of the building were saved for possible reconstruction, but were eventually scattered around Brussels. Some parts were used for

2610-644: Was born in Ghent , Belgium, on 6 January 1861. His father was a master shoemaker, who, as Horta recalled, considered craftsmanship a high form of art. The young Horta began by studying music at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent . He was expelled for misbehavior and went instead to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. At the Ghent Conservatory, an aula is named after him today. When he

2668-494: Was built around an open central stairway. The interior decoration featured curling lines, modeled after vines and flowers, which were repeated in the ironwork railings of the stairway, in the tiles of the floor, in the glass of the doors and skylights, and painted on the walls. The building is widely recognized as one of the first appearances of Art Nouveau in architecture (along with the Hankar House by Paul Hankar , built at

2726-456: Was certainly more modest than the other houses, but it had its own original features and equally fine craftsmanship and mastery of details. He made unusual combinations of materials, such as wood, iron and marble in the staircase decoration. The novel element in Horta's houses and then his larger buildings was his search for maximum transparency and light, something often difficult to achieve with

2784-490: Was commissioned to design a home for the scientist and professor Émile Tassel. The Hôtel Tassel was completed in 1893. The stone facade, designed to harmonize with the neighboring buildings, was fairly traditional, but the interior was strikingly new. Horta used the technologies of glass and iron, which he had practiced on the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken , to create an interior filled with light and space. The house

2842-730: Was delayed until 1923. Its unusual design and layout attracted great interest from the European medical community, and his buildings continue in use to this day. In February 1915, as World War I was underway and Belgium was occupied , Horta moved to London and attended the Town Planning Conference on the Reconstruction of Belgium, organised by the International Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. Unable to return to Belgium, at

2900-431: Was formally commissioned as the architect in 1913, but work did not actually begin until after World War II , in 1952. It was originally planned that the station would just part of a much larger redevelopment project, which Horta had conceived in the 1920s, but this was never realized. The start of construction was seriously delayed due to the lengthy process of purchasing and demolishing over one thousand buildings along

2958-448: Was greatly influenced by the French architectural theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc , whose ideas he completely identified with. In 1925, he wrote: Since 1840, the theories of Viollet-le-Duc are a sharp, precise and constructive analysis of each element in architecture, bringing the whole of architecture to its absolute origin – a construction out of which any form of art can emerge. The major breakthrough for Horta came in 1892, when he

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3016-511: Was inspired not by classical models but by nature, particularly by the curving stems of plants and flowers. Horta also stressed to Guimard the importance of unity in a building; the structure, decoration, furniture, wallpaper, carpets and decoration should all go together. Guimard had undertaken the project of designing an apartment building in a traditional style for a widow named Madame Fournier before he went to Brussels and met Horta. When he returned, he persuaded his client to allow him to build

3074-459: Was nearly forgotten as an architect until the 1970s, when there was renewed interest in the Art Nouveau. The Castel Béranger was classified as an historical monument on 3 July 1972. 48°51′09″N 2°16′29″E  /  48.8524°N 2.2746°E  / 48.8524; 2.2746 Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta ( French pronunciation: [viktɔʁ ɔʁta] ; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947)

3132-459: Was seventeen, he moved to Paris and found work with the architect and designer Jules Debuysson . Horta's father died in 1880, and Horta returned to Belgium. He moved to Brussels and married his first wife, with whom he later fathered two daughters. He began to study architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He became friends with Paul Hankar , another early pioneer of Art Nouveau architecture. Horta did well in his studies and

3190-442: Was suggested by the name Castel, rather than Hotel, and by its modern version of echauguettes , the overhanging turrets that were a feature on the corners of medieval castles. Guimard put into the building a multiplicity of different forms, materials and colors, some of them inspired by the colors of the villas of seaside towns. The ornament was abundant, but carefully designed and not overwhelming; it moved away from Gothic into

3248-476: Was taken on as an assistant by his professor Alphonse Balat , the architect to King Leopold II . Horta worked with Balat on the construction of the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken in northern Brussels, Horta's first work to utilise glass and iron. In 1884, Horta won the first Prix Godecharle to be awarded for architecture for a proposed new building for the Belgian Parliament . On his graduation from

3306-571: Was that, since it matched the house, it could not be changed to any other style, without disrupting the harmony of the room. Horta and his first wife divorced in 1906. He married his second wife, Julia Carlsson, in 1908. In 1925, he was an architect of honor for the Belgian Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, the exposition which gave its name to Art Deco . In

3364-413: Was the octagonal shape of the rooms, and the three facades with windows, designed to give maximum light. The owner originally wished to keep his original family furniture, but because of the odd shape of the rooms, Horta was commissioned to create new furniture. By 1948, Art Nouveau was out of style, the house was sold to a new owner, who wished to demolish it. A movement began to preserve the house, but in

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