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Three escape room games close to the university campus.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Villa Empain was designed by Swiss architect Michel Polak as a private residence in Art Deco style, and built between 1930 and 1934 by industrialist Baron Édouard Empain. Unlike similar Art Deco buildings of its time, Villa Empain was decorated with works of many different artists and as a result boasts a greater diversity than for example the Stocklet Palace. Empain donated the property to the Belgian state in 1937, with the intention of turning it into a museum of decorative and contemporary art. The foundation, known as the Le Cambre School hosted various exhibition in the villa until 1943 when the occupying German Wehrmacht requisitioned it during the Second World War. After the war it served as the Embassy of the Soviet Union until the 1970s, when it was occupied by a local TV station and abandoned in the 1990s. The neglected building was purchased in 2000 by Stéphan Jourdain, a shady businessman who proceeded to strip the building from many of its unique artifacts, until the vandalism was discovered by the Brussels Monuments and Sites conversation society that responded by locking down the site in 2001. Once again the building remained abandoned and fell prey to vandalism and squatters until the property was acquired by the Boghossian Foundation in 2008 and extensively renovated. The responsibility for the renovation was given to French architect Francis Metzger who previously had successfully completed renovations of the Solvay Library and the Central Station. With a budget of €4 million, the aim of the renovation was to restore the villa to its 1934 outlook. From its inauguration as a museum and art exhibition center in 2010, the villa has hosted many concerts, conferences and cultural events, for which it was awarded the European Prize for Cultural Heritage in 2011. It is open to the public and can be visited, along with a museum souvenir shop and a café.
Metro station opened in 1976 and named after Belgian World War I air ace Edmond Thieffry. It has several interesting sculptures of modern art on display.
Hotel Solvay
Not an actual hotel, but a large Art Nouveau town house designed by renowned Belgian architect Victor Horta. Horta was commissioned by Armand Solvay, son of the wealthy chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay, to design his residence. Ernest Solvay had made his fortune from the development of the chemical process that bears his name, which offered a more economical method to produce soda (sodium carbonate), a cleaning agent and precursor to countless other chemicals. Having inherited much of the fortune of his father, Ernest Solvay gave Horta complete freedom for the design of his home, which translated into expensive construction materials such as marble, onyx, bronze, and tropic woods, and the inclusion of expensive details. Horta personall oversaw the design of every detail, from furniture, carpets, light fittings, tableware, to even the door bell. Many of Horta's favorite materials, iron, glass and natural stone, can be recognized in the buildings facade. Horta in turn commissioned Belgian painter Theo van Ryselberghe for the decoration of the staircase, commonly the centerpiece in all Hortas designs. The Solvay Residence was acquired in the 1950s by the Wittamer family, which gained its wealth from chocolate production and trade, and no expenses were saved to keep the house intact. Its exceptional architectural value and beauty made it onto the list. To visit, you have to book in advance on the website.
Maison Cauchie
Residence designed and built in 1905 by Art Nouveau architect, painter and designer Paul Cauchie, with a facade remarkable for its allegorical sgraffiti. Cauchie picked up this technique from Jean Portaels and Constant Montald when he studied at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts after obtaining his degree in architecture in Antwerp. Aside from his own house, only 3 other houses designed by Cauchie are known, 2 of them also in Brussels. Cauchie was more of a decorator than an actual architect, and specialized in designing sgraffiti for architecture. Cauchie designed his house with the intention of advertising and selling his own work, and the art of his wife. The house was easily seen from neighboring roads, and thus drew attention from passers-by and demonstrated the know-how and skills of the Cauchies. The center of the facade is marked with the words "Par Nous — Pour Nous" (By Us — For Us), illustrating this purpose. After completion, the Cauchies filled their new home with numerous works of art, paintings, wall coverings, furniture, and so on. It is therefore a good example of total art in architecture. The building was almost demolished in 1971, but saved at the last minute and classified as a monument in 1975. It was renovated between 1981 and 1988, and opened as a museum since 1995. The basement of the house contains the cellars where Paul Cauchies workshop has been converted into a gallery exhibition with photos, paintings and archive documents meticulously collected over the years to illustrate the artistic life of Paul and his wife. The upper floors have been converted into private flats and adapted to modern needs, and cannot be visited.
Palais Stoclet
Several turn-of-the-century houses and manors can still be seen today, such as the Stoclet Palace, a , which was built between 1905 and 1909 on a design by Josef Hoffmann and contains mosaics and paintings by Gustav Klimt.