Hôtel Tassel and Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hôtel Tassel

   In 1893, a young architect named Victor Horta finished a town house in Brussels for a professor called Emile Tassel, and in doing so he changed the course of European design. The Hotel Tassel is generally regarded as the first true Art Nouveau building. Its facade looks restrained from the street, with a curved bay window and a bit of ironwork, but inside, the staircase is a revelation. Slim iron columns split into whiplash curves that spread across the walls and ceiling, mosaics ripple across the floor, and the whole space seems to grow like a plant.

   Read the complete Hôtel Tassel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hôtel Tassel is where the day begins. Next is Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.

2. 2. Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi

   The Grote Markt of Mechelen is one of the grandest squares in Belgium, and on its eastern side stands the old cloth hall with its belfry, a building with a curious history. The hall was built in the fourteenth century, when Mechelen was a rich cloth-making town, and the belfry was planned to be a tall tower, but it was never finished. Its stump was eventually given a pointed roof, and later a sixteenth-century extension in the Renaissance style was begun to house the Great Council of the Netherlands, but that too remained unfinished. The belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.

   Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison Guiete.

3. 3. Maison Guiete

   In a leafy residential street in the southern suburbs of Antwerp, there is a white house that looks as if it has walked in from a different century. The Maison Guiette, as it is usually spelled, was designed by Le Corbusier in 1926 for the painter René Guiette, and it was his first building in Belgium. Since 2016 it has been one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of Le Corbusier's architectural work, alongside the Villa Savoye, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and buildings on several continents.

   Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Maison Guiete. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.

4. 4. Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal

   Rik Van Looy, one of the great Belgian cyclists of the 1950s and 1960s, was known as the Emperor of Herentals, which tells you something about the priorities of this town in the Kempen. Herentals lies on the flat heathland of the province of Antwerp, and in the middle of its market square stands the old town hall, built in the fourteenth century as a cloth hall, a lakenhal, when the town grew rich on wool and weaving. Its belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a symbol of civic pride and of the freedoms that merchants bought from their lords.

   Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal, about halfway. Next is back through Maison Guiete.

5. 5. back through Maison Guiete

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Maison Guiete sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.

6. 6. back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi comes up about 146 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel Tassel.

7. 7. Hôtel Tassel

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hôtel Tassel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hôtel Tassel closes the day.