Hôtel de maître Hellemans — Anvers

Former Art Deco mansion built for J. Hellemans to a 1928 design by the architect Joseph Somers, as a counterpart to the John Pieters house, designed by Somers in 1926; this semi-detached town villa has two storeys and a slate pseudo-mansard, in brick and natural stone. The five-bay façade, faced almost entirely in stone, is symmetrical; vertical projecting sections with triple windows set its rhythm, while shouldered-arch dormers and a three-sided bay window alternately accentuate the side bay and the entrance bay. The Art Deco character, "ingehouden" (restrained) according to the inventory, is expressed mainly in the detailing of the dormers and the pattern of the wrought-iron double door, the breastworks and the front-garden railing; the wooden window frames with small glazing bars survive. Purchased by Bank Delen, the house was thoroughly altered and extended into offices to plans by the architect Patrick De Sterck (1986); in 1995 its façade was copied exactly, in mirror image, on the neighbouring no. 182, which was demolished and rebuilt. It is recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.