The years after World War One saw an explosion of modernist architecture in Belgian cities. Some of the most astonishing houses were constructed along Avenue Coghen in southern Brussels.
Take a walk along the street and you pass several houses built in the 1930s by the architect Louis Tenaerts.
It’s easy to spot his houses with their streamlined balconies, daring corner towers and rooftop pergolas. There’s a stunning *white house at number 28, a similar brick house at number 40, and other examples at number 42 and 59.
A member of the construction company C.I.B. (Comptoir Immobilier Belge), Tenaerts left his mark all over Belgium. He designed an astonishing 1,635 houses, including 200 in Brussels.
He often signed his works with a carved stone reading C.I.B. L. TENAERTS in chunky stone lettering. Check out his buildings on the excellent (French and Dutch) site louistenaerts.brussels.
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.
