Victor Horta was born in Ghent in 1861, and by the end of the nineteenth century he was the most talked-about architect in Brussels. The four houses that UNESCO lists, the Hotel Tassel, Hotel Solvay, Hotel van Eetvelde and Horta's own house and studio, show how he developed his ideas. They were built for clients who wanted something modern: a professor, an industrialist, an administrator in the Congo Free State and the architect himself. Each uses iron, glass and curving lines in a different way.
Horta's own house, in Saint-Gilles, is now a museum, and it is the easiest of the four to visit. It lets you see how he lived and worked, and its stairwell, with a skylight, mirrors and a mosaic floor, is among the great interiors of the period. The others are mostly private. Hotel van Eetvelde, built for Edmond van Eetvelde, has a famous octagonal hall with a glass dome, and the Solvay house, for the Solvay chemical family, is a statement of wealth and taste. Together they form a small group in a few districts of the city.
It is a sad part of the story that many of Horta's other works were lost. The Maison du Peuple, a great socialist meeting hall with a glass and iron facade, was demolished in 1965, despite protests from architects around the world. That loss helped spark the movement to protect Brussels' architectural heritage. Today the houses are treated with great care, and the areas around them are conserved.
For riders, a day among the Art Nouveau houses is best done on foot, with the bike parked in a quiet street. Brussels has dense traffic, trams and cobbles, and it rewards a slow pace. Fuel is plentiful, and the city has a large number of workshops if you need help. Spring is the best time, with magnolia and cherry trees in the squares, and the evenings are long. If you like beer, ask a bar for something local. Brussels is a city that shows how much a small glass can hold.