Antwerp · offices · listed
Boerentoren (KBC Tower)
- Architect
- Jan Vanhoenacker, Jos Smolderen, Emiel Van Averbeke
- Date
- 1931 (begun 1928)
- Type
- offices
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Antwerp
- Status
- listed
- Address
- Schoenmarkt 35 / Eiermarkt, 2000 Antwerpen
A tower of shops, offices and apartments built in 1928-1931 for the Algemeene Bankvereeniging to plans by Jan Vanhoenacker, Jos Smolderen and Emiel Van Averbeke; at around 87 m, it was at the time the first tower of its kind in Belgium and the tallest in Europe. Its nickname, Boerentoren, comes from the Boerenbond, the bank's main shareholder. After a favourable opinion from Berlage, Horta and Van de Velde in December 1928, the steel frame was erected from November 1929 and the panoramic hall opened on 19 March 1932. Damaged by German shells in September 1944 and then by a V1 bomb on 6 January 1945, the tower was renovated and raised up to 1976 by Léon Stynen and Paul De Meyer, and listed as a monument in 1981. Bought by Katoen Natie and ION, it is the subject of a conversion project designed by Studio Libeskind.
Translated from the French original.
Sources
Featured in routes
- The great commissions — monumental Art Deco
- Antwerp Art Deco — from skyscraper to cinema
- Province of Antwerp — from the Boerentoren to Mechelen
Other works by Jan Vanhoenacker & Jos Smolderen & Emiel Van Averbeke
- Piscine de la Veldstraat (Stadsbad) Antwerp · 1933
- Huis Jussiant Antwerp · 1924
- Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul de Warneton Comines-Warneton · 1926
- Sint-Rochuskerk de Hal Halle · 1928
- Century Center (ancien Century Hotel) — Anvers Antwerp · 1929
- Mémorial interallié de Cointe Liège · 1937
- Bloc de logements sociaux de la Ville d'Anvers, Hopland 31-37 — Anvers Antwerp · 1922
- Couvent Sint-Norbertushuis, Kerkstraat 50 — Duffel Duffel · 1924