Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels

The Hotel Le Plaza is one of the last independent hotels in Brussels, Belgium, and also one of the oldest. It was built in the early 1930s in the Louis XVI style, on Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan, in the heart of Brussels.

Le Plaza
Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels
General information
LocationCity of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
AddressBoulevard Adolphe Max / Adolphe Maxlaan 118–126
Coordinates50°51′16″N 4°21′23″E
Opening1930 then 1996
Closed1976 (original)
OwnerBaron van Gysel de Meise
Technical details
Floor count7
Design and construction
ArchitectMichel Polak
Other information
Number of rooms190
Number of suites14
Number of restaurantsl'Estérel
Parking1
Website
Official website

History

Origins and early history

Under the reign of King Leopold II, following the covering of the Senne, Brussels was remodelled with large boulevards and green avenues. The then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Jules Anspach (1829–1879), contributed to the transformation of the urban landscape of the capital by the realisation of the thoroughfare from the North Station to the South Station.

The Hotel Le Plaza opened its doors in 1930. Soon after, prestigious guests came to stay there, and it became one of the symbols of Brussels' luxury hotel trade. In 1940, during the German occupation, the hotel was placed under the authority of the German troops and the military commander for Belgium and northern France took his quarters there. Premeditating its destruction, the Hotel Le Plaza was, exactly like the Palace of Justice, made into a booby-trap by the Germans, before the arrival of the Allied Forces. When it exploded, it killed two British Army officers: Captain George Hayton (age 32) and Major Anthony Wright (age 30), and destroyed the hotel's winter garden and sumptuous stained glass dome. Thankfully, the rest of the hotel was not damaged.

The song Indépendance Cha Cha was played for the first time in the hotel during the negotiations about Congolese independence from Belgium in 1960.

  • Historical pictures
  • The lobby
  • The main front
  • The theatre
  • The winter garden

Closure, renovation and reopening

The Hotel Le Plaza was obliged, like many of its contemporaries, to close in 1976. Twenty years passed before the rebirth of the Hotel le Plaza under the impulse of its present owner, Baron van Gysel de Meise. With a view to give the building its original vocation back, while equipping it with the very latest applications of modern technique, the Société de Gestion Hôtelière undertook, from February 1995, considerable renovation and fitting works for an investment of 400 million Belgian francs.[1]

The restoration works were placed under the direction of decorator Pierre-Yves Rochon[2]—who was in particular in charge of the decoration of the Hôtel George-V in Paris⁠—and of Anne van Gysel, in order to recreate in the most faithful way the old atmosphere, combining the warmth of a tapestry from the Gobelins National Manufactory, the glossy shine of a rare marble and the diffused light created by chandeliers in amethyst crystal.

Building

The architect of the Hotel Le Plaza, Michel Polak, found inspiration in the style of the Hôtel George-V in Paris, ensuring by its concrete frame a remarkable solidity. The frontage was covered with French stones. The interior was designed to reflect the ideas of brightness and splendour: high ceilings, large corridors, large light rooms, several naturally lighted bathrooms, majestic stairways covering 8 floors, decorated with stained glass windows and fringed with wrought iron hand-rails.

Rooms

The Plaza offers 190 rooms and suites on 7 floors: 109 classic rooms, 53 Deluxe rooms, 20 Prestige rooms, 4 Executive Suites, 1 Plaza Suite and 1 Presidential Suite, which is one of the biggest in the Benelux. The rooms are amongst the largest of the City with a minimal size of 35 m2 (380 sq ft). The suites, with high ceilings, are situated along large and spacious corridors.

Theatre

The theatre of the Hotel Le Plaza is a former cinema with a surface of 460 m2 (5,000 sq ft), designated as a historical monument through a royal decree. It was built in 1930, in a unique Spanish–Arab–Moorish style. Under the name of Acropole Cinema, it opened in 1928 and had an interior designed in a Spanish style with many false windows and barley sugar columns. Seating was provided in stalls and balcony. At one time (possibly in the 1930s), it ran cine-variety shows.

The entrance to the cinema was located at the left-hand side of the twin-blocked building and originally had a large vertical PLAZA sign over the entrance. There was a Plaza Taverne located on the corner of Boulevard Adolphe Max and Rue de Malines/Mechelsestraat, now the main entrance to hotel. The rear of the building backs onto the former Variétiés theatre (Cinerama) around the corner on the narrow Rue de Malines.

The decision was taken during the renovation to keep the original boxes, the genuine bracket-lamps, the stage, as well as the richly sculpted wall ornaments of Andalusian inspiration. It is nowadays used as a banquet hall and conference facility.

L'Estérel restaurant

The restaurant features the particularity of combining a bar and a restaurant for 48 guests. The decoration of the restaurant is very luxurious like the hotel. The particularity of this decoration is the painted ceiling of the restaurant, picturing a mainly blue sky. The menu, created by chef Olivier Bontemps and his sous-chef Alexandre Van Kalck, varies with the seasons to guarantee fresh quality ingredients.

  • The reception
  • The lobby
  • The restaurant

Movies filmed at the Hotel
  • 2010: Hotel Swooni, directed by Kaat Beels
  • 2010: Moi, Michel G., milliardaire, maître du monde, with François-Xavier Demaison, Laurent Lafitte, directed by Stéphane Kazandjian
  • 2012: Ushi must Marry, directed by Raul Ruven
  • 2012: Möbius, directed by Éric Rochant, with Jean Dujardin and Cécile de France

Famous guests

Shortly after the liberation, the British general staff occupied the Hotel Le Plaza: Sir Winston Churchill and Joseph Luns, Secretary-General of NATO from 1971 to 1984, stayed there regularly.

Other important personalities of politics and finance were regular guests of the prestigious hotel, but it was most appreciated by the world of the arts and show business: Charles Aznavour, Jean Marais, Maurice Chevalier, Mistinguett, Louis Jouvet, Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philippe, Annie Cordy, Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, Luis Mariano, Gary Cooper, Raymond Devos, Georges Guétary, Josephine Baker, Fernandel, Lucienne Boyer, Charles Trenet, Martine Carol, Bourvil, Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Claude Pascal, and Claudine Dupuis.

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References
  1. owner interview
  2. "Home". Pierre-Yves Rochon. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
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