Hankar House

The townhouse Hankar built, on a narrow lot in a wealthy Brussels neighborhood near Avenue Louise, was very different from the buildings around it. The dominants styles were Beaux-Arts or neoclassical, with symmetrical features such as pediments and pilasters, constructed in brick or stone. Hankar's house was inspired by the new ideas of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, John Ruskin and William Morris.

From 1879 to 1904, Hankar worked in the studio of the prominent architect Henri Beyaert, a master of eclectic and neoclassical architecture. Through Beyaert, Hankar became an admirer of Viollet-le-Duc, the French architect who advocated the use of innovative new materials such as iron and glass.[2]

Sgrafitto decoration on the facade of Hankar House

The design of Hankar House showed the influence of the Renaissance Revival style, but in other ways, deliberately broke away from the traditional historical styles. The facade, instead of hiding the functions of the interior, expressed them clearly, and asymmetrically. The bow window on the ground floor indicated the living room, an array of small windows over the entrance indicated the staircase, and the large bay window on the upper floor windows indicated the artist's workshop. He used curving iron columns to support the overhanging roof and stone columns supporting the balconies to give a strong vertical element. The balconies have wrought-iron railings in geometric designs. Variety was given to the facade by the use of different shades and colors of brick and stone.[3]

For decorative touches below the windows and the roofline, he used small sgraffito murals. This was a technique popular in Italy in the 15th and 16th century; they were made by applying layers of plaster tinted in pastel colors onto a moist plaster surface.

Hankar built several houses with a similar design for his artist friends, including René Jannsens, the painter Albert Ciamberlani, silversmith and jewelry maker Philippe Wolfers and the painter Léon Bartholomé. Interest in the house spread beyond Belgium. The French architect and designer Hector Guimard made a drawing of the facade in 1895.[4]

The first Art Nouveau houses of Hankar and Horta were completed in the same year, 1893, and the styles of the two architects were similar in several ways. They both renounced traditional historical styles, made visible use of new materials, such as glass and iron, and had as well a strong preference for arches, and for curving lines, a style sometimes called à membrures, which characterized the early work of both architects. There was a great difference, however, in their available budgets; Hankar was building homes for his artist friends, with modest budgets, while Horta had very wealthy patrons, who could afford expensive materials and larger houses. The chief feature of Horta's houses was the interior, while the focus of Hankar's houses was primarily the facade. Hankar believed that Horta's work was excessively lavish; he called it "Louis XV".[5] Hankar died in 1901 at the age of 40, when his work was just becoming known.[6]

• Art Nouveau in Brussels

• Culot, Maurice and Pirlot, Ann-Marie, Bruxelles Art Nouveau, Brussels, Archives d'Architecture Moderne (in French) (2005), ISBN 2-87143-126-4
• Sembach, Klaus-Jürgen (2013). L'Art Nouveau- L'Utopie de la Réconciliation (in French). Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8228-3005-5.
• J. Victoir and J. Vanderperren, Henri Beyaert: Du classicisme à l’art nouveau, St Martens-Latem, 1992.