A yellow-brick townhouse on the avenue that leads to Ghent’s museum park, designed in 1901 by one of the city’s pioneers of late Art Nouveau and signed on its own facade. It is recorded as architectural heritage by the Flemish government.
At a glance
The Kunstlaan, the “Avenue of the Arts”, runs along the edge of the Citadelpark in the south of Ghent, and at the start of the twentieth century it was built up with townhouses in the newest styles. Achilles Van Hoecke-Dessel designed several of them. The house at numbers 16–18, drawn in 1901 together with its neighbour, carries a date stone of 1902 and an inscription naming its architect. The Flemish heritage inventory describes it as an Art Nouveau house with a broad yellow-brick front, asymmetrical openings, decorative ironwork and a two-storey bay window resting on a corbel carved as a head. Since 2023 it has been formally designated as architectural heritage.
Key facts
- Where: Kunstlaan 16–18, 9000 Ghent, East Flanders
- Architect: Achilles Van Hoecke-Dessel (1871–1918)
- Dates: facade design 1901; dated 1902 by a stone on the facade
- Style: Art Nouveau
- Protection: vastgesteld bouwkundig erfgoed (designated architectural heritage) since 20 June 2023
- Current use: guest house (B&B Achilles, at no. 18)
- Coordinates: 51.041205, 3.724533 · open in Google Maps
History
Achilles Van Hoecke was born in Ghent in 1871 and took his wife’s surname as well, becoming Van Hoecke-Dessel, to avoid confusion with other Ghent architects of the same name. After studying at the Ghent Academy and working under the restoration architect Constant Sonneville, he set up on his own in his native city in 1897. The Flemish heritage agency describes him as a pioneer of late Art Nouveau in Ghent, with a personal mix of eclectic elements and geometric Art Nouveau motifs. From 1903 to 1907 he edited the journal La tribune artistique, and he designed pavilions for the Liège world exhibition of 1905.
His Ghent years were his most productive. The inventory links him to a whole group of houses on the Kunstlaan, at numbers 16–18, 20, 23–29 and 41, all built between 1901 and 1903, as well as others in the south of the city. The facade of numbers 16–18 was designed in 1901 together with the house on its left; a date stone gives 1902. In 1907 Van Hoecke-Dessel moved to Brussels, where he worked less, possibly because of illness, and in 1910 he became architect to the Congo railway company. He died in 1918.
The B&B that now occupies the house has taken the architect’s first name, Achilles, as its own. It describes the building as an Art Nouveau house of the early twentieth century, completely renovated with its original elements kept.
What you see
We have not been able to find a free photograph of this house that we could verify, so this description follows the Flemish heritage inventory. The front is two bays wide and three storeys high, under a pitched tiled roof whose ridge runs parallel to the street. It is built of broad yellow brick, divided horizontally by bands of natural stone. The composition is entirely asymmetrical: the window and door openings are of different shapes, some arched and some rectangular, and grow smaller towards the top.
Ironwork is used decoratively for the balcony railings, window mullions and brackets. The centre of the facade rises higher than the rest and is partly stepped; it carries the date stone of 1902 and the inscription with the architect’s name. On the right a polygonal bay window projects through two storeys, under its own hipped roof, resting on a corbel carved in the shape of a head.
Practical information
- The house is a private guest house; the facade can be seen from the Kunstlaan.
- Walk the avenue: the other Van Hoecke-Dessel houses at numbers 20, 23–29 and 41 are within a few steps.
- The avenue’s row of twenty-six pollarded plane trees is itself recorded in the Flemish heritage inventory.
Getting there
Gent-Sint-Pieters station is about ten minutes on foot to the south-west. The historic centre around the Korenmarkt is about twenty minutes’ walk to the north, or a short tram ride.
Nearby
- The Citadelpark, with the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) and the museum of contemporary art S.M.A.K.
- Van Hoecke-Dessel’s other Art Nouveau houses on the Kunstlaan.
- Vooruit, the socialist festival hall of 1914, to the north.
Sources
- Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed, Burgerhuis ontworpen door A. Van Hoecke-Dessel, Kunstlaan 16–18 (ID 20703): 1901 design, 1902 date stone, description of the facade, designation of 20 June 2023.
- Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed, Van Hoecke-Dessel, Achilles: biography and the list of his works on the Kunstlaan.
- B&B Achilles: address, the name taken from the architect, the renovation (the owners’ account).
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim: position returned as 18, Kunstlaan, Kunstenkwartier, Gent.
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