Avenue Franklin Roosevelt
 The Avenue Franklin Roosevelt/Franklin Rooseveltlaan in Brussels | |
  Location within Brussels   Avenue Franklin Roosevelt (Belgium) | |
| Location | City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 50°48′23″N 04°23′08″E / 50.80639°N 4.38556°E |
| Construction | |
| Construction start | 1922 |
The Avenue Franklin Roosevelt (French) or Franklin Rooseveltlaan (Dutch) is an avenue in Brussels, Belgium. It is located in the southern part of the City of Brussels, near the border with the municipality of Ixelles, where it runs parallel to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos. It is named in honour of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The Avenue Franklin Roosevelt is known as one of the most beautiful avenues in Brussels.[1][2][3] Many of the houses on the avenue date from the 1920s to the Second World War. It also houses many embassies and residences of ambassadors.
History
The avenue was laid out in 1922, according to the wishes of King Leopold II, through the site of the Brussels International Exposition of 1910. The construction of the avenue, the adjacent arteries and the first buildings mostly took place during the interwar period. Before 1945, it was called the Avenue des Nations/Natiënlaan ("Nations Avenue"). Its name was then changed to the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt/Franklin Rooseveltlaan in honour of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[4]
In spite of Brussels' city planning free-for-all between the end of the Second World War and the late 1960s, the appearance of the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt has mostly remained unchanged over time; the vast majority of its buildings is indeed very well preserved, and some of them are now classified as historic monuments.
Notable buildings
The Avenue Franklin Roosevelt is home to many buildings in Art Nouveau, Art Deco, modernist and eclectic styles. The Solbosch campus of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university, with about 20,000 students, is also situated on the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt.
- No. 52: Blomme House (1928), a modernist house designed by Adrien Blomme for his personal use (offices and apartments), whose entrance is flanked by two bas-reliefs by Ossip Zadkine.[5]
- No. 65: Villa Bernheim, which was occupied by Émile Bernheim, former President of the group À l'Innovation and is now an art gallery.[6]
- No. 67: Villa Empain (1930–1934), a private Art Deco house by Michel Polak, notable as the home of the Boghossian Foundation.[7]
- No. 86: Delune House (1904), an eclectic building combining Art Nouveau with influences from Byzantine architecture, by Léon Delune.[8]
- No. 110: Art Deco apartment building (1931) by Antoine Varlet[9]
-
The main building on the Solbosch campus of the Université libre de Bruxelles -
-
Blomme House (Blomme, 1928) -
Villa Empain (Polak, 1930–1934) -
Apartment building (Varlet, 1931)
Embassies and consulates
The Avenue Franklin Roosevelt houses many embassies, including from the City of Brussels towards Watermael-Boitsfort:
See also
- List of streets in Brussels
- Art Nouveau in Brussels
- Art Deco in Brussels
- History of Brussels
- Belgium in "the long nineteenth century"
References
Notes
- ^ "Bruxelles et ses plus belles avenues | Klare Lijn". www.klarelijn.be. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ "L'avenue Franklin Roosevelt". Quefaire.be (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ Libre.be, La (1 February 2017). "Bruxelles: Le réaménagement de l'avenue Franklin Roosevelt contesté". www.lalibre.be (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ "Avenue Franklin Roosevelt – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ "Ancienne habitation personnelle d'Adrien Blomme, actuel rectorat de l'Université libre de Bruxelles – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ "Villa Bernheim". Foursquare.
- ^ "Home". Villa Empain - Fondation Boghossian.
- ^ "Château Delune – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ "Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 110 – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 9 January 2022.