Forest Town Hall, Protected heritage site in Forest, Belgium

The Forest Town Hall is an asymmetrical Art Deco building of orange brick and blue stone, designed by Jean-Baptiste Dewin. A tall tower with narrow window slots and gilded copper statues rises beside a long hall with stepped gables. The main portal on the Chaussée de Bruxelles opens onto a marble staircase leading to the council chamber.

After World War I, Forest planned a new hall on the site of the current Union Saint-Gilloise stadium in Duden Park, but instead kept the grounds of its 1828 neoclassical hall and a 1734 parsonage. Jean-Baptiste Dewin designed it from 1925, plans were approved in 1931, the first stone was laid on 19 May 1935 and the building was inaugurated on 9 July 1938. The 25 May 1944 bombing damaged the facade and the Chaussée de Bruxelles portal; the whole was protected on 22 October 1992.

The tower carries large statues in riveted copper sheet, gilded with gold leaf, made by sculptors Jacques Marin and Marnix d'Haveloose; the largest shows a man defending citizens' rights. The capitals of the porch pillars bear bas-reliefs of family life and local trades such as brewing, laundry and shoemaking.

The building stands at the corner of the Chaussée de Bruxelles and the Rue du Curé, opposite the Church of Saint-Denis and the Abbey of Forest. The main portal on the Chaussée de Bruxelles, beneath the tower, opens onto the wedding room and a marble staircase; the smaller portal on the Rue du Curé serves the ticket and administrative offices. The building is an active municipal hall, so visits are best timed around its public opening hours.

The tower's gilded copper statues by Jacques Marin and Marnix d'Haveloose include the largest, a figure of the man defending citizens' rights. The stepped gables carry a pelican and a seahorse, and the pilaster capitals show Greek tragedy masks or animal mouths that sometimes serve as rainwater spouts.