Miscellaneous buildings of interests, architecture, Antwerp

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This Neorenaissance building was erected at Britselei to replace a smaller building at Groenplaats. The first stone was placed in 1870 and the result was a typical, impressive palace of that time. Unfortunately, in a city like Antwerp, it is not the only one of its kind… In 2006, it lost more of its glory when the New Placae of Justice was opened. Although some juridical authorities are still in this building, the future usage of the Gerechtshof is still not clear.

Even in a beautiful city like Antwerp, you can’t avoid shocking effects like this one. After having visited the old town, I came across this one. It’s the Police Tower at Oudaan. Fortunately, it’s only a side view, the front looks at least acceptable (that’s the most diplomatic words which come into my mind right now). This 15-floor-building was built between 1957 and 1967 – so it’s one of the typical 1960s archicetural sins. I read that there’s a museum on top of it from which you can enjoy a view onto the whole city. As I didn’t know at the moment of being there, I didn’t try it out. However, I was on the way to the New Palace of Justice – which from today’s point of view looks far better.

New Palace of Justice:

Antwerp has not only a beautiful old town, but also some interesting modern buildings. The New Palace of Justice was built on the place of a former train station. It was designed by Richard Rogers (the same architect who designed the Centre Pompidou) and finished in 2006. The most notbale feature are the 26 pointy roof constructions, consisting of 6 large and 20 smaller ones. They gave the building its nickname: Vlinderpaleis (butterfly palace).

“The black panther” is the nickname for this beautiful building from 1303. The nickname comes from the art gallery with the same name which now occupies the building. In the middle ages, it was used as a caritative instituion, where homeless people were given an accomodation for a limited period.

For information about the gallery, check the link below (dutch only).

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Another Art Nouveau building from 1901 that is worth finding is the Help U Zelve (Help yourself) building on Volksstraat. Currently housing the Steiner School, it's a former political hall decorated with a mosaic featuring a bunch of bare @ssed men doing manual labor and wrought iron in the Art Nouveau style.

The architect was Emiel van Averbeke (along with Jan Van Asperen) who was known as Antwerp's equivalent of Victor Horta, the designer of many Art Nouveau gems in Brussels.

Built in 1901, one of the most interesting buildings we came across is part of the Five Continents housing complex, a group of four houses done in art nouveau style. The building I photographed features a balcony shaped like a ship.

The complex was commissioned by a shipbuilder who added the boat balcony to the original design of architect Frans Smet-Verhas.

An interesting neighborhood to walk around. Each historical building has very unique achitecture. Apparantly, the owners of these buildings liked to outdo their neighbors and made their homes more and more exotic.

In zurenborg another part of Antwerp you find the Cogels Osylei. This street is really something special. Its full with historical houses, with beatiful statues and mosaics. Also the surroundingstreets and especially the Waterloostraat are worthwhile visiting.