Hôtel Hannon
An engineer who photographed light asked a friend to build him a house full of it. Brunfaut did it once, and only once.
At a glance
The Hôtel Hannon is a corner town house in the Saint-Gilles district of Brussels, built between 1903 and 1904 for the industrialist Édouard Hannon. It is the only building in the Art Nouveau style designed by the architect Jules Brunfaut, a friend whom Hannon asked to work in the manner he loved. Hannon — an engineer with the Solvay chemical company, and also a painter and photographer — wanted a house that belonged equally to Brussels and to Nancy, the two capitals of the style. Today it operates as a cultural venue.
Key facts
- Architect: Jules Brunfaut (his only Art Nouveau building)
- Built: 1903–1904
- Client: Édouard Hannon, engineer and photographer
- Style: Art Nouveau
- Address: 1, avenue de la Jonction, Saint-Gilles, Brussels
- Materials: white brick, limestone, and blue stone
- Status: protected monument; now a cultural and exhibition venue
History
Édouard Hannon was an engineer with Solvay and long managed the company’s soda works at Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, just south of Nancy in France — which placed him at the heart of the French Art Nouveau world as well as the Belgian one. He was also a serious painter, art critic, and photographer. When he built his Brussels house, he turned to his friend Jules Brunfaut and asked specifically for the style he loved.
The Hannon family occupied the house until 1965. After the death of the owner’s daughter the property was abandoned, vandalised, and at one point threatened with demolition. Brunfaut’s own daughter intervened, alerting the Royal Commission of Monuments and Sites; the exterior was classified in 1976, the municipality of Saint-Gilles acquired the building in 1979, and the interior was classified in 1983.
A major renovation followed in the 1980s. The house later served the photography centre Contretype, fitting for a home built by a photographer, before a further restoration returned it to public cultural use.
What you see
The facades combine white brick, limestone, and blue stone, and the house turns a corner with two strikingly unequal fronts: a short single-bay face on the Avenue Brugmann and a longer two-bay face on the Avenue de la Jonction, knitted together by an angular three-bay link. The asymmetry is the composition, not a flaw in it.
Hannon’s ties to Nancy show in the interior decoration, which drew on French Art Nouveau craftsmanship rather than the Brussels school alone. The house was conceived as a total environment, the kind of unified scheme — structure, glass, and furniture together — that the movement prized above any single ornament.
Practical information
- The Hôtel Hannon operates as a cultural and exhibition venue; opening hours follow its programme.
- Confirm current hours and exhibitions before visiting.
- The corner facade is visible from the street at any time.
- Time needed: 45–60 minutes with an exhibition.
Getting there
The house stands at the corner of the Avenue de la Jonction and the Avenue Brugmann in Saint-Gilles, south of central Brussels. Several tram lines run along the Avenue Brugmann and stop close by; the Horta and Brugmann tram stops are the most convenient.
Nearby
- Saint-Gilles and its dense cluster of Art Nouveau facades.
- Horta Museum, Victor Horta’s own house and studio, a short distance away.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Hôtel Hannon”.
- Commune of Saint-Gilles heritage information.
- Brussels regional monument classifications (1976, 1983).
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