Exhibition The facade of the Hotel Aubecq at Kanal in Brussels

20/09/2018 > 10/06/2019

Hôtel Aubecq is one of Victor Horta’s finest achievements, as regards both the built result and the relationship that the architect had with the client, Octave Aubecq, throughout the conception of the project. Aubecq was authoritarian and peremptory, Horta stubborn and clever: both men hit it off wonderfully!

Hôtel Aubecq was sold in 1948 with all its furniture, which had also been designed by Horta, to private buyers interested in property development. Informed of the building’s forthcoming demolition, the Minister of Public Works released funds so that part of the façade could be dismantled and stored. This was the beginning of a long odyssey for 650 stones, shipped around on six occasions from wastelands to warehouses. In 2001 the Brussels-Capital Region was landed with these forgotten fragments, the vestiges of a prestigious heritage.

What now? Such is the question that this exhibition seeks to raise. It will also be the main theme of a series of lectures taking place in the following months at KANAL – Centre Pompidou.

An exhibition organized by CIVA, with the kind support of the Monuments and Sites Directorate – Brussels Planning and Heritage – Brussels Capital Region.

More information
Picture: Poster of the exhibition “The facade of the Hotel Aubecq” © Coll. CIVA, Brussels, Armelle CARON, 2018