There was a time, not so many years ago, when Art Nouveau houses in Belgium were left to rot. Almost no one saw the value of these houses from the 1890s and early 1900s with their fancy ironwork and awkward spaces.
One sadly abandoned house stood on Ghent’s Kunstlaan at number 41. It was designed, along with several other houses in the street, by the architect Achiel Van Hoecke-Dessel.
Built in 1903 as his personal home, it stood out from its neighbours with its gorgeous arched door, bay window and elegant balcony.
Listed as a protected monument, it was nevertheless abandoned for many years, until it was finally restored in 2013. The restoration won Ghent’s Monument Prize in 2015.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
