Karel Van Looy

Karel Van Looy, born in Sint-Antonius on 8 November 1885 and died in the same village on 12 October 1965, was an architect active in Antwerp from the late 1920s to the late 1950s. In the 1930s he built mainly in the new housing estates of Deurne, Berchem and Borgerhout, where he lived, but also elsewhere in the province of Antwerp, notably in Zoersel, Ranst and Herentals. His work consists mostly of townhouses, multi-family dwellings and small apartment buildings in an urban setting, and modest country houses in rural areas. From the early 1930s he developed a recognisable Art Deco style whose elements he repeated across a limited number of house types, usually signed; in the Venneborglaan and Gallifortlei area of Deurne he was one of the most productive builders. The house at Turnhoutsebaan 281 (1929) still sits between Art Deco and the cottage style, while the houses at Ter Rivierenlaan 99 and Venneborglaan 126 (1933), the multi-family dwelling at Venneborglaan 43 (1935) and the buildings at Ter Rivierenlaan 101 (1936) and Alfons Schneiderlaan 179 (1937) are variations on his standard models. Around 1935 he also designed an Art Deco house at Dorp 36 in Rijkevorsel. Towards the end of the 1930s his architecture moved towards a moderate brick modernism.

Translated from the French original.