Hôtel Solvay [SEP] architect
Hôtel Solvay
The Hôtel Solvay is a large Art Nouveau town house designed by Victor Horta on the Avenue Louise in Brussels. The house was commissioned by Armand Solvay, the son of the wealthy Belgian chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay. For this wealthy patron Horta could spend a fortune on precious materials and expensive details. Horta designed every single detail; furniture, carpets, light fittings, tableware and even the door bell. He used expensive materials such as marble, onyx, bronze, tropic woods etc. For the decoration of
Tassel in 1894, and the Hôtel Solvay in 1898. Horta met and had a strong influence on the work of the young Hector Guimard and Gustave Strauven who was Horta's disciple and started his own practice at 21. Important artists included another Art Nouveau pioneer architect Paul Hankar and whose sgraffiti are at many Hankar's buildings; the architect and furniture designer Henry van de Velde, the decorator Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, and the graphic artist Fernand Khnopff. Belgian designers took advantage of an abundant supply of ivory imported from the Belgian