Antoine Varlet was, with Michel Polak and Sta Jasinski [fr], one of the pioneers of apartment building construction in Brussels. His name appeared for the first time in the Brussels landscape in 1923 for an industrial complex at 42, rue de la Gare/Stationstraat in Etterbeek,[3] in collaboration with his brother, the architect Walthère Varlet.[4] Still in 1923, they renovated a neoclassical building together at 27, rue de l'Est/Ooststraat.[5] In 1927, he signed his first apartment building at 110, avenue de Tervueren/Tervurenlaan.[6]
Varlet was a follower, like his colleague Pierre De Groef [fr], of the Beaux-Arts style in the middle of the Art Deco era. However, he quickly turned from 1929 onwards to an Art Deco style mixed with elements of Beaux-Arts. His specialty was makings buildings at street corners which give a wider perspective, a practice which has served as a precedent for many architects in Brussels since then.[7]
Beaux-Arts decoration of the building, Schuman Roundabout
Apartment building, Avenue de Cortenbergh/Kortenberglaan 43 (1929)
Detail of the building, Avenue de la Renaissance/Renaissancelaan
Art Deco era
Starting in 1929, his style became influenced by the then dominant Art Deco style, while still keeping many Beaux-Arts elements in his works: red or orange brick facades, bordered with white stones, forged iron doors, decorative low and high reliefs, which help mitigate a coldness that is sometimes found in Art Deco buildings. He thus created his own mix of styles.
1929: Avenue de l'Hippodrome/Renbaanlaan 1, corner with Avenue des Klauwaerts/Klauwaartslaan 2
^ abcdeCatalogue of buildings by architect A. Varlet, Ern. Thill, Brussels, 1936
^Isabelle Douillet and Cécile Schaack, « L’avenue Franklin Roosevelt et le quartier du Solbosch : Considérations historiques, urbanistiques et architecturales », Inventaire du Patrimoine architectural, Bruxelles-Extensions Sud, 2006-2007.
« Quelques immeubles de l'architecte A. Varlet », in : Perspectives, 1, 1937, pp. 44–46.
Clarté, mensuel, n°11, Brussels, 1936, p. 11.
Catalogue of buildings by architect A. Varlet, Ern. Thill, Brussels, 1936. Read online.
Isabelle Douillet and Cécile Schaack, « L’avenue Franklin Roosevelt et le quartier du Solbosch : Considérations historiques, urbanistiques et architecturales », Inventaire du Patrimoine architectural, Bruxelles-Extensions Sud, 2006–2007. Read online.
Isabelle Douillet and Cécile Schaack, « L’avenue Louise et les rues adjacentes : Considérations historiques, urbanistiques et architecturales », Inventaire du Patrimoine architectural, Bruxelles-Extensions Sud, 2006–2007. Read onlineArchived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
