Avenue Louis Bertrand in Schaerbeek shows how architecture, greenery and urban planning together shaped a new district around 1900. What had once been a village on the edge of Brussels became an urban axis where ambition and renewal can be read in façades, street profiles and public space. From Saint Servatius Church to Josaphat Park, a succession of buildings reflects the optimism of a city in the process of modernising.
The walk highlights a rich range of Art Nouveau achievements. Architects such as Victor Horta, Gustave Strauven, Franz Hemelsoet and Henri Jacobs experimented here with light, materials and ornament, in private houses as well as in schools that sometimes resemble true palaces. Each building contributes to a varied yet coherent streetscape.
The surroundings also play an essential role. Urban planner Victor Besme and landscape architect Edmond Gallopin designed Josaphat Park as a green counterpart to the built environment, where housing, walking and sociability come together. The avenue can thus be read as a route where architecture, landscape and social ideals form a recognisable and lively Brussels place.