Autrique House, Art Nouveau museum in Schaerbeek, Belgium.
Autrique House is a narrow terrace house at 266 Chaussée de Haecht in Schaerbeek, Brussels, with a 7.20-metre facade of white stone and blue stone with red joints. Its ground-floor door and window are offset from the upper-floor rhythm, and a loggia supports a complex cornice. The original interior disappeared completely; it was reconstructed in the 1990s and early 2000s, with metal beams left visible beneath a coffered wooden ceiling.
The building was designed in 1893 by architect Victor Horta and is considered his first major work in the Art Nouveau style. It was an early sign of a new design direction that spread through Belgium and beyond in the years that followed.
The interior was entirely lost before the commune of Schaerbeek bought the house in the mid-1990s; architect Francis Metzger rebuilt the volumes and had elements reconstructed or reused, with objects collected by Françoise Aubry of the Horta Museum. Comic authors François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters staged it as an "imaginary house", a visit told as a narrative. Temporary exhibitions, concerts and lectures are held here.
The museum sits in a residential part of Schaerbeek and is within walking distance of several public transit stops. It is worth setting aside enough time to move slowly through the rooms, as the details reward close attention.
Although Victor Horta later became known for grand public buildings, Autrique House was a private home built for a friend, not a wealthy patron. This makes it an unusual example in his body of work, showing how he tried out new ideas in a familiar, personal setting.
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