Maisons Verbist et Huybrechts — Anvers

Group of two mirror-image Art Deco town houses, built to a 1923 design by the architect Jef Huygh, one of his first independent works, for Mr Verbist (no. 233) and D.A. Huybrechts (no. 235); they are among the first buildings on Boekenberglei. Their very vertical, linear form, emphasised by a tall mansard roof, is according to the inventory typical of Huygh's designs of the 1920s. Of two unequal bays and two storeys under a steep pseudo-mansard covered with red tiles, they originally had a horizontal alternation of white render and red brick, lost through monochrome painting. The wide, slightly projecting bay ends in a gable with a chevron crowning; triple windows with central shouldered-arch windows mark each storey, and the wrought-iron balustrades carry the stylised honeybee, Huygh's signature. No. 233 retains its original front door and part of the Art Deco interior designed by Huygh, including a geometric oak fireplace. The houses are recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.