Brussels’ Ornate Homes Defy City’s Low-Key Reputation
While residents of Paris and Berlin piled into tall tenement buildings, 19th century Belgians built ornate single-family homes.
Second-floor facade of a maison de maître in Brussels’ Saint-Gilles neighborhood, designed by architect Ernest Blerot.
Photographer: Alan John Ainsworth/Heritage Images via Getty Images
(This article is part of Bloomberg CityLab’s series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series. Get the next story sent to your inbox by subscribing to the CityLab Daily newsletter.)
Brussels may have emerged as one of Europe’s unofficial capitals, but in some ways it’s not a typical European city at all. When Paris and Berlin started to swell in the 19th century, their residents mostly piled into apartments in multi-floored tenements. A quick walk around Brussels, by contrast, reveals that the city’s residents went in a different direction. Move away from its central avenues, built in open imitation of Paris, and instead of apartment buildings, you find something altogether different — tall, skinny single-family homes opening directly onto the street.