Stoclet Palace (Palais Stoclet), Brussels
A private house designed to the last spoon: Hoffmann’s masterpiece, with a dining room frieze by Klimt.
At a glance
The Stoclet Palace, in the Brussels suburb of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, is the masterpiece of the Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann and a high point of the Vienna Secession. Built between 1905 and 1911 for the financier Adolphe Stoclet, it was conceived as a total work of art, the Wiener Werkstätte designing everything inside, including a dining-room mosaic frieze by Gustav Klimt. UNESCO listed it in 2009.
Key facts
- Location: Avenue de Tervueren, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Brussels
- Architect: Josef Hoffmann
- Built: 1905–1911
- Style: Vienna Secession (Wiener Werkstätte)
- Status: UNESCO World Heritage (2009)
History
The wealthy Brussels financier Adolphe Stoclet gave Hoffmann an almost unlimited budget and complete freedom. Hoffmann answered with a house where architecture and decoration were one, made by the Wiener Werkstätte down to the cutlery.
For the dining room, Klimt designed a gold-and-enamel mosaic frieze, the Tree of Life among them, one of his most famous works. Still privately owned and rarely opened, the house was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2009.
What you see
The exterior is severe and elegant: white Norwegian marble panels framed in gilt-bronze lines, geometric and cool, crowned by a stepped tower with four sculpted figures. It is the opposite of curving Art Nouveau, the Secession turned geometric. The richest art, including Klimt’s frieze, is hidden inside.
Practical information
- Open: private; not open to the public — exterior viewable from the avenue
- Cost: free to view from the street
- Best for: the marble-and-gilt façade and the stepped tower
- Time needed: 10–15 minutes
Getting there
The palace is on Avenue de Tervueren in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, eastern Brussels, reached by tram along the avenue from the city centre.
Nearby
- Parc de Woluwe — the landscaped park nearby
- Avenue de Tervueren — the grand avenue to the Cinquantenaire
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Stoclet House
- Encyclopædia Britannica — Josef Hoffmann / Stoclet House
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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