L’Hôtel Solvay de Victor Horta. Le somptueux palais urbain d’une famille d’industriels

When the young Armand Solvay rather unexpectedly ascended to the top job at the company Solvay et Cie in 1894, he commissioned Victor Horta in that same year to design a residence befitting his new status. What is striking is that Horta did not show quite the same daring for the floorplan of Solvay House that he did for other residences he designed during this period. The resources placed at his disposal did, however, enable him to apply a number of innovative techniques to this residence and above all to develop his talent as an interior designer to the full.
In November 2000, Solvay House, together with three other residences by architect Victor Horta, were added to the World Heritage List. This major town house with all the allures of a city palace is the most luxurious creation of the Art Nouveau architect. The interior being exceptionally well preserved, it is therefore significant as an example of a style and of the work of this architect. Not only does the residence display the stylistic mastery of Horta, it also shows his technical ingenuity. In addition, the residence reflects like no other how the moneyed classes lived in Brussels during the fin-de-siècle era. It also tells us a great deal about its residents, the Solvay family, which had amassed a vast fortune through industry at the time.