Hôtel Solvay

The Hôtel Solvay (French: Hôtel Solvay, Dutch: Hotel Solvay) is a large Art Nouveau town house designed by Victor Horta on Avenue Louise/Louizalaan in Brussels, Belgium. 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 doorbell. He used expensive materials such as marble, onyx, bronze, tropical woods etc. For the decoration of the staircase, Horta cooperated with the Belgian pointillist painter Théo van Rysselberghe.

Hotel Solvay
Hôtel Solvay  (French)
Hotel Solvay  (Dutch)
Hotel Solvay, located at 224, Avenue Louise/Louizalaan in Brussels
General information
Architectural styleArt Nouveau
LocationCity of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Coordinates50°49′34.75″N 4°21′55″E
Current tenantsLouis Wittamer
Construction started1898
Completed1900
ClientArmand Solvay
Design and construction
ArchitectVictor Horta
Official nameMajor Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels)
TypeCultural
Criteriai, ii, iv
Designated2000 (24th session)
Reference no.1005
State Party Belgium
RegionEurope and North America

The Hôtel Solvay and most of its 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 recognised the Hôtel Solvay as UNESCO World Heritage in 2000, as part of the listing 'Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta':

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.[1]

  • Facade
  • Entrance
  • Doorbell
  • Design of interior decoration by Horta
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See also

References
  1. "Major Townhouses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels)". UNESCO. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  • Françoise Aubry and Jos Vandenbreeden, Horta, Art Nouveau to Modernism, Ludion Press Ghent — Harry N. Abrams Publishers New York, 1996.
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