Maison Van Laten — Anvers

Art Deco apartment house designed in 1926 by the architect Paul Smekens for the Dutchman Nicolaas van Laten, a maritime expert and insurance broker; it belongs to the sober Art Deco that Smekens developed from 1924 onwards. The natural-stone façade with cornice, of two unequal bays and four storeys under a slate mock mansard, emphasises the broad side bay with a rising three-sided bay window and adjoining balcony; the facing is flat apart from the fluted frieze below the cornice. The flower-basket motif on the breastwork, repeated in the wrought-iron balcony balustrade, gives it its Art Deco character; the ground and first floors formed a town house, the upper floors two rental flats. The house is recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.