Waucquez Building, Art Nouveau department store in Pentagon, Brussels.
The Waucquez Building is a former department store in Art Nouveau style located at Rue des Sables 20 in Brussels's Pentagon district. Large bay windows framed with stone sculptures and ironwork displaying palm leaf patterns dominate the facade, while the interior spans multiple floors connected by elegant staircases beneath glass-roofed galleries.
Architect Victor Horta designed the building in 1906 as a department store for the Waucquez family, who operated their cloth business from this location until 1974. The structure emerged during Art Nouveau's peak in Brussels, when innovative retail buildings were reshaping the city's commercial districts.
The building now houses the Belgian Comic Strip Center, where visitors experience exhibitions about comic art within its preserved Art Nouveau rooms. The collections use the elegant spaces and staircases to bring comic history to life in this historical setting.
The building sits centrally in the Pentagon district and is easily reached by public transportation. Multiple staircases and elevators provide access to all exhibition levels, where the artistic design of the stairs themselves becomes part of the visiting experience.
The central hall features mezzanines lit by skylights that demonstrate Horta's techniques for distributing natural light throughout the interior. This spatial arrangement creates an open feeling that connects all levels visually and functionally.
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