Léon Stynen

Léon Stynen, born and died in Antwerp (15 July 1899 - 13 May 1990), graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1921); in Paris he visited the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, where the pavilions of Le Corbusier and Mallet-Stevens influenced him. He designed the casino in Knokke (competition in 1925, built 1928-1931) and the casino in Blankenberge. His Rex cinema in Antwerp, opened in 1935, was destroyed by a V2 rocket in 1944, rebuilt in 1946-1947, closed in 1993 and demolished in 1995. In 1945 he won the competition for the Ostend Kursaal, opened in 1953 and protected in 1998. He directed La Cambre from 1950 to 1964 and in 1963 became the first president of the Order of Architects.

Translated from the French original.