Art deco in Brussels

"A stone's throw away from the shops on rue Neuve, the Art Deco façade of the tavern Espérance attracts the attention of passers-by. Léon Govaerts, who also designed the Vanderborght shops on rue Fossé-aux-Loups and the home of the banker Van Buuren in Uccle, was its architect. With quite severe lines, it was built in 1930 and given a facing in veined marble. The entrance, slightly off centre, was topped by a metal canopy with a vertical illuminated sign shooting up from it. This breaks with the continuity of the fanlight windows whose geometrical stained glasses give a little touch of colour to the whole".

http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/minisite_monument/heritage_place/11385/esperance-tavern-and-hotel.do

Almost back to school but not quite yet

September 1 and school starts again. I felt like making the holiday last a little longer by posting the pictures taken at the end of the previous school year. The first one in Mechelen, where the girls were obviously delighted and the second one in Paris, where an excursion to the musée Rodin does not seem to excite the boys very much.

Wiels, outside

For some reason, I refer again to the Finnish au-pairs. On April 29 I wrote about Anna and her friend from Finland who stayed in Belgium 10 years ago as au-pairs and returned recently for a touristic visit. Readers asked what they thought and whether things had changed or rather remained more or less the same. Anna answered : 

"I must say that the best parts of our trip were the art exhibitions, especially the newly(?) opened Wiels centre (http://www.wiels.org/site2/home.php). I recommend it to everyone! The whole building itself is very interesting too. I just love seeing the love for artistic experiments all around Brussels. I didn't notice that in 2000, so maybe things have really changed!"

Wiels used to be the home to an old brewery, Wielemans-Ceuppens.

Brewer Léon Wielemans asked a friend, architect Adrien Blomme, to design and build the buildings of his brewery in Forest. The buildings date from 1931. 

A center of contemporay arts opened in the brewery's building a few years ago.

The remnants of the old times are still to be seen in surrounding buildings. 

http://www.beercapital.be/otherstuffDetail_EN.aspx?id=1017

Tomorrow: posting about the inside of this magnificent example of industrial Brussels Art Deco.