Villa Snieders — Anvers

Villa in a "zakelijk" (functional) Art Deco style, designed in 1935 by the Berchem-based architect Pierre De Jongh for P.J. Snieders and built in 1936; according to the inventory, this fairly sober villa is representative of the architect's stylistic pluralism, between the brick expressionism of the Amsterdam School, the stylised ornament of French Art Deco and a more functional brick modernism. Detached at the back of its plot, on a rectangular plan of two by three bays, it has a basement and two storeys under a hipped roof of dark glazed tiles that incorporates a small attic storey. The facing of red Rijkevorsel brick with "Dudok" joints is combined with white Brauvilliers stone for the bay windows, surrounds, sills and entrance canopy, and with bluestone for the plinth; the functional character lies in the expressive blind wall masses, the Wrightian projecting cornice and the dominant roof, while the undulating profile of the window piers, semicircular corbels beneath the cornice and the ironwork with a geometric interlace pattern on the front door, garage door and front-garden railing provide the decoration. The front façade is dominated by the full-width bay window of the salon-smoking room, which, like the band window above, continues round the side façade; the original steel window frames survive at least in part, but the dormers have been considerably enlarged. The villa is recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.