The Palais Stoclet, (Brussels, Belgium), 1905, Art Nouveau

View from Street

The Palais Stoclet designed by Josef Hoffmann in 1905 for the Belgian banker Adolphe Stoclet in Brussels is a total work of art. The project is part of the “Vienna Secession movement (which) bears witness to a profound conceptual and stylistic renewal of Art Nouveau.”(1) The total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) refers to everything, the furniture, the materials, every space, every garden, and every view from each space. It may not seem that way from the street, as you are greeted by a gray façade which is hidden behind tall hedges. It’s exterior gives a sense of inward focus as the windows are placed only where there is not much of a view, and seem to only exist for the purpose of allowing light to enter. The decorative copper elements including the four men, the homes tower, and other smaller decorative roofing elements have now patinaed and add a luxuriously artistic detail to the exterior.

On the interior the amalgamation of geometry is everywhere, but allows for a certain beauty to be formed. The materials on the interior of the home are of the absolute finest, Marble, Gilt, and South American Hardwoods, are just a few among the many precious materials. The home, while pompous and arrogant, overall presents itself as something that is expensive, through abstract means. The entrance through a pergola defined by unordered columns which have no base or capitols prefaces the visual order that the rest of the house then follows. The floor plan follows a main axis, with rooms that sprout off of it in different directions. The textures in just the 20 ft murals in the dining room are a physical version of haute couture: luxuriously surrounding oneself with visible wealth. Each mural is overwhelming with their respective mixes of onyx, marble, parquetry, and hardwood contained within the disorienting patterns. Within all of the things in the home there are moments of purity; such as the bathtub raised upon a platform and carved of a single block of marble with mosaic fish detailed on the walls surrounding, the double curved master bedroom ceiling which draped over the bed where the Stoclets slept, the nook facing the living area, and curved marble benches surrounding the fountain. All the curves stand out even more because of the orthogonal order that they lay within. The views into the garden only allow for views of hedges which bring you back into the perfectly ordered and contained luxury of the space you are within.

The exterior spaces of the home such as the roof garden are invisible from the street, but allow for fantastic outdoor living. With perfectly shaped hedges, symmetrical patios and gorgeous views from the back yard of the mini palace; Hoffman perfectly meshes organic order with the orthogonal order of the interior and façade of the building. The home, its gardens, and some of its interior contents are protected as a world heritage site by UNESCO, and is not open to the public. It is still privately owned by the Stoclet family and not much has been changed except for the selling off of most of the artworks.

Bibliography:

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1298 (1)

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/flanders%2Btoday/1.553098#

Das Palais Stoclet in Brüssel: Von Josef Hofmann, mit dem berühmten Fries von Gustav Klimt
             Hardcover – 1991