The Hôtel Albert Ciamberlani (; ), occasionally also referred to as the Hôtel Veuve Ciamberlani (meaning ''House of Widow Ciamberlani''), is a historic

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 residen ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It was built in 1897 as the private residence of the

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

painter Albert Ciamberlani and commissioned by his mother. The architect was

Paul Hankar Paul Hankar (; 11 December 1859 – 17 January 1901) was a Belgian architect and furniture designer, and an innovator in the Art Nouveau style. Career Hankar was born at Frameries, in Hainaut, Belgium, the son of a stonemason. He studied at ...

, but Ciamberlani himself provided the designs for the large

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

sgraffito (; ) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of another underlying coating which is in a contrasting colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in con ...

decoration on the

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

. The building, which was renovated in 2006, is one of the best-preserved buildings by Hankar. It is described in the official list of architectural heritage of Brussels as an "exceptional private house in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style" and art historian has described its façade as one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau façades in Belgium. The house is located at 48, / in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

, a few steps from the Hankar House, another remarkable Art Nouveau building by Hankar.

History

received the commission to design the building from the mother of the

painter Albert Ciamberlani, soon after having finished a project for a private residence for his friend Henri Renkin in 1897. The large lot was almost opposite his own house on the /. Hankar also produced designs for the house of the brother of Albert, José Ciamberlani, in the vicinity. Hankar initially struggled with finding a solution for the unusually wide façade (). In his first draft, the façade was dominated by large windows, with a central

bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Like bay windows, bow windows add space to a room by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building and provide a wider view of the garden or street outside than flush windows, but combine ...

. The second draft split the façade in a broadly uniform, upper part and a lower part, which was divided around a central axis, but retained the dominance of glasswork. The final design was more complex, and dominated by the large

designed by Ciamberlani. The house was built in 1897. It was one of a succession of private houses in Brussels designed by Hankar, mostly for friends, between 1897 and 1900. In 1927, the lower part of the façade was heavily altered, and a garage added. The architect Albert Devez was responsible for these changes. The original furniture, also designed by Hankar, has been dispersed and is now kept in the collections of Design Museum Gent in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium. The building has been listed since 1983. The façade was renovated in 2006. The Hôtel Ciamberlani is one of the most well-preserved buildings designed by Hankar.

Description

For the final design of the façade, Hankar came up with a complex solution where several different influences coexist. A motif of round openings, inspired by traditional Chinese

moon gate A moon gate () is a circular opening in a garden wall that acts as a pedestrian passageway. It is a traditional architectural element in Chinese gardens. The shapes of the gates and their tiles have different spiritual meanings. The sloping ...

s, is superimposed over a façade divided horizontally in a way that is inspired by medieval architecture, conveyed via Hankar's contemporaries

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

and

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of architecture of the United States. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 ...

. It is dominated by two materials, white brick from

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

and white stone from

Euville Euville () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. In January 1973, it absorbed the former communes Aulnois-sous-Vertuzey, Vertuzey and Ville-Issey.horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the ar ...

windows, and the geometric decoration of the rest of the façade expands into a richer, floral decoration. The top of the façade is dominated by the sgraffito decoration designed by Ciamberlani and executed by . It consists of a large, central composition and, just under the roof, a string of medallions. The central composition depicts in allegorical form the different stages of life, under the canopy of a large pear tree. The medallions have been proposed to depict either the

Labours of Hercules The Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles (, , ) are a series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished in the service of King Eurystheus. The ep ...

or hunting scenes. Ciamberlani's decoration for the façade shows influence from the works of

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

and similarities with works by

Antoine Bourdelle Antoine Bourdelle (; 30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important ...

. Art historian has described its façade as one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau façades in Belgium. He notes that it lacks what he calls the " Gothic" element of

Louis XV style The Louis XV style or ''Louis Quinze'' (, ) is a style of architecture and decorative arts which appeared during the reign of Louis XV. From 1710 until about 1730, a period known as the Régence, it was largely an extension of the Louis XIV sty ...

, "which artists of the time abused, both in Brussels and Nancy". In the official list of architectural heritage of Brussels it is described more succinctly as an "exceptional private house in the geometrical

style." Inside, the spatial layout was a more traditional variation of a layout found in many Belgian houses at the time, with the exception of the first floor, which was dominated by a wide room facing the street. For the rest, the right side of the building contained the drawing room, dining room and a veranda, while the left side of the building contained an office, the stairwell and a smaller dining room. The top floor contained four bedrooms, and two bedrooms were also located on the main floor. File:Hôtel Ciamberlani - frise avec médaillons..JPG,

Sgraffito (; ) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of another underlying coating which is in a contrasting colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in con ...

medallions at the top of the façade File:Hotel Ciamberlani - sgraffite de l'étage, détail..JPG, Detail of the sgraffito decoration File:Ixelles rue Defacqz 49 1005.jpg, Closeup of the sgraffito

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links