The Horta Town Houses

Art Nouveau did not begin in Brussels by accident: Victor Horta, working here in the 1890s, was the first architect to carry the whiplash curve through an entire building, from the iron structure to the door handles, and four of his town houses carry World Heritage listing for it. The one you can always see is his own house and studio in Saint-Gilles, kept as the Horta Museum, where the point becomes obvious the moment you step inside: the stairwell is the heart of the house, lit from a glass roof above, with exposed ironwork curling into plant forms, mosaic floors, mirrors placed to throw light down, and every fitting designed to match. Hôtel Tassel, the house that started it all in 1893, and Hôtel Solvay and van Eetvelde can usually only be seen from the street or on rare open days.

What you actually see

• The Horta Museum - the architect's own house and studio, open year-round.
• The stairwell - the light-filled iron and glass core that defines his work.
• Hôtel Tassel - the 1893 house widely credited as the first Art Nouveau building.
• The street facades - Solvay and van Eetvelde, seen from outside.

When to go

The museum is open most of the year but closed on Mondays and for a period each summer, so check before travelling. Numbers inside are limited and timed tickets are now the norm, so book online. The other three houses open only on occasional heritage days.

Honest expectations

Only one of the four listed houses is reliably open, which disappoints people expecting to tour all of them; the others are private and visible from the pavement. Photography inside the Horta Museum is banned, strictly. The house is small and busy, and tickets are timed. Brussels has many other Art Nouveau facades worth walking between, which a self-guided route covers well.

Nearby

The Comic Strip Center, itself in a Horta building, is in the centre; the Grand Place is a short ride away.