The Autrique House (french: Maison Autrique, nl, Autrique Huis) was the first

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

built by

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...

in Art Nouveau style. This house, built in 1893, represents an essential step in the evolution of the Belgian architect. In many ways, it was an innovative dwelling, although it does not feature the novel spatial composition of the almost contemporary

Hôtel Tassel The Hôtel Tassel (french: Hôtel Tassel, nl, Hotel Tassel) is a town house in Brussels, Belgium, designed by Victor Horta for the scientist and professor Emile Tassel, and built from 1892 to 1893. It is generally considered the first true Ar ...

. The house is located at 266, /, in the municipality of

Schaerbeek (French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and S ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. The Autrique House was built for the engineer Eugène Autrique and his family. Due to budget restrictions, the family wanted a simple but comfortable home. For this reason, many custom made details, which Horta designed himself in most of the other town houses he built, were abolished. The house was kept in a relatively good condition during the 20th century. In the 1990s, it was bought by the municipality of Schaerbeek. It was thoroughly renovated and is now opened to the public.

History

Built by

in 1893 for his friend Eugène Autrique, the Autrique House constitutes the missing link between traditional private architecture and the emerging Art Nouveau style. All typical Art Nouveau characteristics are already present in this early work of Horta: fine iron pillars and columns of the facade,

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

, stained glass,

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s, and importance of natural light and decorative elements of floral inspiration. These characteristics were to be developed and magnified by Horta and his disciples.

Building

The Autrique House was the first town house built by Victor Horta. This dwelling was already innovative for its application of a novel Art Nouveau decorative scheme that did not include references to other historical styles. However, the floor plan and spatial composition of the Autrique House remained rather traditional. On the deep and narrow building plot, the rooms were organised according to a traditional scheme used in most Belgian town houses at that time. It consisted of a suite of rooms on the left side of the building plot, flanked by a rather narrow entrance hall with stairs and a corridor that led to a small garden at the back. From the three-room suite, only the first and the last had windows, and so the middle room, used mostly as a dining room, was rather gloomy.

Awards

The Autrique House received in 2005 the Medal of

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Italian for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement to relevant inte ...

for ''"the scrupulous restoration of an early masterpiece of Victor Horta, and for the creation of a scenography which pays tribute to the private architecture of Brussels and opens a door to an imaginary world."''

References

Notes

External links