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History
The Résidence Palace is now the home of journalists and civil servants, but the complex was originally designed right after World War I as a luxurious apartment building, intended for the Brussels bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Lucien Kaisin, a successful Walloon businessman, had two aims for this apartment building, the biggest in Europe at the time. First of all he wanted to help solve the housing crisis that was afflicting the country in general and the capital in particular after the Great War. But instead of putting a roof over the heads of ordinary people, he sought to build homes for the wealthier classes. In one fell swoop he also wanted to provide a solution to the acute shortage of domestics that had arisen at the end of the first decade of the century. Anyone renting an apartment in what Kaisin himself described as "a small town within a city", would immediately be able to call upon chambermaids and butlers designated to serve the residents of the complex.
Kaisin asked Swiss architect Michel Polak to draw up the plans. On 30 May 1923 the foundation stone was laid for a complex that would not merely contain luxurious apartments, but also restaurants, a theatre, a swimming pool with a Turkish bath, conference rooms, a hairdresser's and barber shop, a bank, a post office, garages, grocers, a florist's shop, a chocolate shop, and more. In 1927 the first residents moved into their Art Deco home. However, as it turned out they would not remain there for long, because in 1940 the building was commandeered by the occupying German forces.
After World War II, the Résidence Palace was bought by the Belgian state, which used it to house various government departments. For a while the complex was even slated for demolition. Happily, though, nothing ever came of such plans. Today, it is primarily the patio, now roofed over, the swimming pool, the theatre and the foyer, which remind us of the glory of a bygone era. |
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