Villa Empain


The Villa Empain is a private house in the Art Deco style in Brussels, Belgium built in 1930–1934 by Swiss architect Michel Polak. It was commissioned by Baron Louis Empain, son of the Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain. Since its restoration in 2009–2011, it has been open to the public.

History

Background

Baron Louis Empain was the second son of Édouard Empain, a respected Belgian industrialist who had spent much of his career in Egypt. In 1930, he commissioned the Swiss architect Michel Polak to build a large house in the Art Deco style on the edge of the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos in the emerging southern suburbs of Brussels.

Building

Built between 1930 and 1934, the Villa Empain is organised around a large enclosed courtyard. It was designed in the Art Deco style, and the project aroused significant interest in Belgium where prestigious houses in the style were comparatively rare. Various expensive stone facings were used from around the world.

Occupation

Despite the expense incurred in construction, Louis Empain barely used the house after its completion and lived primarily in Canada. In 1937 it was donated to the Belgian State to house a museum of applied arts for the École nationale supérieure d'Architecture et des Arts décoratifs de La Cambre. It was commandeered by the German Army in November 1943 during the occupation.
After the war, the Villa was ceded to the Soviet Union as an embassy at the initiative of Paul-Henri Spaak. Disapproving of this use, it was reacquired by the Empain family in 1963 and resold in 1973 to Harry Tcherkezian, an Armenian-American tobacco entrepreneur. It was used by Radio-Télévision-Luxembourg from 1980 to 1993, before becoming unoccupied after 1995. The building was classified in 2007, but its condition degraded significantly.
In 2007, the Villa was acquired by the Boghossian Foundation. It was restored between 2009 and 2010 and reopened to the public as a museum and cultural centre. The conservation project was awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award in 2011.

Exhibitions

2010
2011
2012
2013
2019