Tassel House

From Archiplanet

Jump to: navigation, search
cid_aj2636_b.150.jpg Tassel House
Designer Victor Horta
Location Brussels, Belgium
Date 1892 to 1893
Building Type large house
Climate temperate
Context urban
Architectural Style Art Nouveau
Street Address
Notes Also "Hotel Tassel". Elegant urban house with facade defined around centered, stacked oriel bay windows and balcony.
At Great Buildings http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Tassel_House.html

Contents



[edit] Images

[edit] Discussion

UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Name Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels)
UNESCO State Party Belgium
Region Europe and North America
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iv
UNESCO Site ID 1005
Year of Listing 2000



Building Details



"...Generally regarded as the first complete building in fully-fledged Art Nouveau style. It is narrow-fronted and deep, the rooms planned rather more freely than was normal at this time and with some exploitation of floor levels.

— Sir Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture

Details

Address:
No. 6, Rue Paul-Emile Janson, Brussels


[edit] Related Content from Wikipedia

Hôtel Tassel

The Hotel Tassel (, ) is a town house built by Victor Horta in Brussels for the Belgian scientist and professor Emile Tassel in 1893-1894. It is generally considered as the first true Art Nouveau building, because of its highly innovative plan and its ground breaking use of materials and decoration. Together with three other town houses of Victor Horta, including Horta's own house and atelier it was put on the ' UNESCO World Heritage List' in 2000. It is located at 6, Rue Paul-Emile Jansonstraat in Brussels.

History

The first town house built by Victor Horta was the Maison Autrique. This dwelling was already innovative for its application of a novel ' Art Nouveau' decorative scheme that didn't include references to other historical styles. However the floor plan and spatial composition of the Maison Autrique remained rather traditional. On the deep and narrow building plot the rooms were organised according to a traditional scheme used in most Belgian town houses at that time. It consisted of a suite of rooms on the left side of the building plot flanked by a rather narrow entrance hall with stairs and a corridor that led to a small garden at the back. From the three room suite only the first and the last had windows so that the middle room (mostly used as a dining room) was rather gloomy.

At the Hôtel Tassel Horta definitively broke with this traditional scheme. In fact he built a house consisting of three different parts. Two rather conventional buildings in brick and natural stone — one on the side of the street and one on the side of the garden — were linked by a steel structure covered with glass. It functions as the connective part in the spatial composition of the house and contains staircases and landings that connect the different rooms and floors. Through the glass roof it functions as a light shaft that brings natural light into the centre of the building. In this part of the house, that could also be used for receiving guests, Horta made the maximum of his skills as an interior designer. He designed every single detail; doorhandles, woodwork, panels and windows in stained glass, mosaic floorings, stairrailings, electric fittings and even the decorative wallpaintings and the furnishing. Horta succeeded in integrating the lavish decoration without masking the general architectural structures.


thumb|260px|right|Stairway of Tassel House, Brussels The innovations made in the Hôtel Tassel would mark the style and approach for most of Horta's later town houses, including the Hôtel van Eetvelde, the Hôtel Solvay and the architects own house and 'atelier'. It might be superfluous to mention that these houses were very expensive and only affordable for the rich 'bourgeoisie' with an ' Avant-Garde' taste. For this reason the pure architectural innovations were not largely followed by other architects. Most other Art Nouveau dwellings in Belgium and other European countries were inspired by Horta's 'whiplash' decorative style which is mostly applied to a more traditional building.

The Hôtel Tassel had a decisive influence on the French Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard who later developed a personal interpretation of Horta's example.

Awards

The UNESCO commission recognized the Hôtel Tassel as UNESCO World Heritage in 2000.


See also

Sources






ca:Casa Tassel es:Casa Tassel fr:Hôtel Tassel he:בית טאסל nl:Hotel Tassel ja:タッセル邸 sk:Hôtel Tassel vi:Hôtel Tassel zh:塔塞尔公馆

Above content from Wikipedia available under GFDL retrieved Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:15:00 -0800


[edit] Maps

[edit] References

Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. London: The Butterworth Group, 1987. ISBN 0-408-01587-X. LC 86-31761. NA200.F63 1987. p1199. — The classic text of architectural history. Updated edition available at Amazon.com

[edit] External Links

Personal tools