Rue Royale: Halfway along the Kings’ Route, the “Ultieme green” at the Hôtel Cohn-Donnay
- il y a 9 heures
- 4 min de lecture
The history of Rue Royale unfolds in three chapters, with the Hôtel Cohn-Donnay featuring in the ‘final’ chapter.
Laid out as early as 1776, this street is one of Brussels’ most iconic thoroughfares. It was in 1821 that the idea of linking the Royal Palace to the Palace of Laeken took root. Perhaps an early desire to combine culture and pleasure…
The first layout: 1776–1780
The first section was laid out on the initiative of the Austrian authorities, represented by the architects Guimard* and Zinner, as part of a vast neoclassical project encompassing the Place Royale and the Parc de Bruxelles. Barely 700 metres long, it connects the Place Royale (Place de Coudenberg in 1780) to the Place de Louvain, running alongside the Parc. It quickly became a sought-after location, home to numerous mansions occupied until the end of the 19th century by wealthy aristocratic families.
* Barnabé Guimard (1731–1805), a French architect, unrelated to Hector Guimard (1867–1942), a leading figure in French Art Nouveau.
Carte de 1843 qui montre la Rue Royale lors de la construction de la Maison.
‘Rue Royale-Neuve’ from Place de Louvain to Porte de Schaerbeek,
2nd section
In 1821, surveyor Godfurneau was commissioned to carry out an extension project. The foundation stone was laid in June 1822 by Mayor De Wellens. The challenge was considerable: the terrain was steeply sloping. The earthworks were spectacular; Rue Royale-Neuve would ultimately overlook the ‘Bas-Fonds district’ by 15 metres. Pending development, this side was fitted with guardrails. Even today, from Place du Congrès (created around 1850 on the site), one can appreciate the scale of the project when looking out over the lower part of the city.
The ‘Porte de Schaerbeek’ is now nothing more than a name: demolished around 1782, it was replaced by toll houses.
At the time, the octroi—a tax levied on goods entering the city from outside (as described by Philippe Baudot in his novel *Piano Rue Royale*)—was still in use. It is these toll booths that mark the boundary of this extension of the original axis.
‘Rue Royale Extérieure’ as far as Sainte-Marie Church,
creation of a royal perspective
Decided as early as 1824, the final extension was not completed until 1828. Running along the heights separating the Maelbeek and Senne valleys, Rue Royale Extérieure enjoys a prime setting: the Botanical Garden on the Senne side, opened in 1829, and, as its crowning glory, the Royal Church of Sainte-Marie.
Designed by Van Overstraeten as early as 1840, work began in 1847 and was completed … in 1885; this church embodies the symbolic culmination of the axis.
Its designers were certainly not lacking in ambition: ‘The desired effect is one of a break in scale and a dramatic twist, created by the contrast of a dome of the greatest possible volume, whose enormous mass, punctuated by eight projecting turrets, … bears no relation to that of the houses on Rue Royale. … the emergence of this colossus above the houses, whose 65-metre height … will cut out the entire silhouette against the horizon and allow the eye to take in the whole ensemble, … will carry the grandeur and majesty of the capital up to the heavens”*
*Report of the parish council, 5 April 1845 (parish archives), ‘BRUXELLES PATRIMOINES No. 003 – 004 – 09-2012’
It was just a stone’s throw from this future church, at No. 43* of this final extension, that on 11 March 1836 a famous painter was granted permission to build on a plot of land ‘in the extension of Rue Royale beyond the Porte de Schaerbeeck’.
*Number 43 Rue Royale Extérieure became 214 Rue Royale, then 226, then 288 and finally 316!
A unified but not uniform Rue Royale
In 1851, the terms ‘neuve’ and ‘extérieure’ were dropped, and the three sections were merged under a single name: Rue Royale.
The cradle of Brussels’s Neoclassical architecture, it has, over time, been enriched by Neo-Renaissance, Beaux-Arts, Eclectic, Functionalist influences… and, of course, Art Nouveau. Paul Hankar left his mark here with the façade of the former Niguet shirt shop at No. 13; Paul Hamesse created one of his major works here in 1904, at No. 316.
But Rue Royale is also where chicory was invented, where the first edition of *Les Misérables* was printed, and where Puccini was mourned. So many stories yet to come…
The Ultieme Green: when a façade becomes a legend
Against the monumental backdrop of the street, a striking colour contrast catches the eye. In the late 1980s, Fred Dericks painted the façade in this deep green, which captures the light of Rue Royale and ensures that De Ultieme Hallucinatie remains etched in the minds of passers-by. It intrigues, it attracts, it heralds a world of its own, a breath of fresh air amidst the street’s austerity. The façade and its distinctive green are not merely an aesthetic choice: they have become the living signature of the place.
This colour also sparked a famous controversy with Guy Cudell. The colourful mayor of Saint-Josse, himself a colourful character, regaled the press with his verdict: “Saint-Josse is not Disneyland!”
This colour scheme has, in fact, become so iconic that you’ll find a range of dedicated beer mats on site: proof that this green is not just a façade colour, but a true Brussels icon.
Le Vert Ultieme guides you. All you have to do is step inside…
All the mysteries of the Ultieme Hallucinatie
directly in your inbox.