Hôtel-café Art déco, Kantineplein 2 — Louvain (Heverlee)

Hotel with café and garage built in a simple Art Deco style for Amélie Roelants, following a permit application of 1935 (permit of 16 August 1935) and a design of 1934 by the architect Hamels. It stands on an enclosed, hedged corner plot at the junction of Jules Vandenbemptlaan and Hertog Engelbertlaan, on the Kantineplein, the tram terminus which, with the nearby Arenbergpark, was a popular leisure spot for the people of Leuven; two of the seven plane trees planted at the time survive in the garden. The main block of three bays and three storeys, under a slate mansard gabled roof, is extended by a low rear wing; both are in red brick, with white render worked in a geometric, stepped manner for the surrounds, plinth, mouldings and dormers, which according to the inventory gives the façade its Art Deco character. The café doors open in the canted corners of the façade, and the windows on both storeys have fanlights with cut-off corners, bricked up on the ground floor. A side extension of 1969, designed by Willy Fierlafijn, contrasts with the main building through its contemporary idiom. The building is recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.