Markiesgebouw, Office building in Cathedral Quarter, Brussels, Belgium.
The Markiesgebouw is an office building on the block bounded by Markiesstraat, Sint-Goedeleplein, Parochiaanstraat and Loksumstraat in Brussels. Its pale grey stone facade rises in stepped blocks: a lower left wing with a dark sloped roof and a grid of green-tinted windows over about six floors, and taller central and right towers capped by open metal lattice crowns, with broad stone piers between recessed window columns.
The building stands on the site of the Sint-Goedele hospice, demolished around 1500 and replaced by a city palace where General Marquis Ambrosio de Spinola is said to have lived at the end of the 15th century, giving the building its name. Many houses in Markiesstraat were demolished in 1947 for the North-South connection and the rest in 1966 for the metro. The Markiesgebouw was built in the late 1980s for insurer AG Groep, designed by ELD Partnership of Antwerp under André Jacqmain, and housed part of the Flemish administration from 1989 to 2007.
From 1989 to 2007, the building served as a central location for the Flemish administration before becoming the headquarters of Fortis Holding.
The building occupies the block bounded by Rue du Marquis, Place Sainte-Gudule, Rue des Paroissiens and Rue Loxum, next to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. It is an office complex, not open to the public; the entrance is at street level beneath the stepped stone facade. The nearest metro access is the Gare Centrale area, a short walk away.
The building underwent a 50-million-euro renovation in 2009, transforming it into a financial center that now houses Euronext Brussels.
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