As part of the redevelopment of the former Place des Panoramas/Panoramasplein, subsequently renamed Place du Congrès/Congresplein, architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer oversaw the construction of a town house between 1850 and 1852, matching another identical building at the other end of the square designed to accommodate the famous Congress Column. Above a blue limestone ground floor, the rendered and white-painted elevation combined the neoclassical and Italian Renaissance styles. The building was then occupied by Banque Transatlantique, which commissioned architect Paul Saintenoy to build a second entrance on the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat side between 1919 and 1920. In 1921, the British company Lever Brothers moved in. Founded in 1885, Lever Brothers had developed a process for making soap from glycerin and vegetable oils, allowing it to be sold in bar form. Soon afterwards, having been awarded a licence by the Belgian government to exploit the Congo's palm groves, it transformed the building into a showcase for its business, including a museum and cinema. Entirely clad in marble, the main hall features two bronze statues reflecting the colonial outlook of the time: a Congolese man cutting fruit and a Congolese woman with a bunch of fruit at her feet. The company left the complex in 1950 and the building is now home to the ISIB (Institut Supérieur Industriel de Bruxelles). (Listed 19/04/1977 and 03/12/2020)