HORTA, Victor
(b. 1861, Gent, d. 1947, Bruxelles)

Hôtel van Eetvelde: general view

1895-97
Photo
4-6, Avenue Palmerston, Brussels

Perhaps the most modern of Horta's house façades is that of the Hôtel van Eetvelde (1895-97), which employed a rational iron frame decorated with mosaic panels bordered by free-flowing 'whiplash' lines. The luxurious interior, replete with marbles and gilt bronze, features a staircase and landings wrapped around a double-height octagonal hall near the centre of the plan. A shallow glass dome, which is supported by elliptical arches above a circle of iron columns, lights the hall; across the dome, long, leaf-like tendrils of coloured glass continue the sinuous curves of the structure below.