Hôtel van Eetvelde and Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hôtel van Eetvelde

   Victor Horta built this house between 1895 and 1898 for Edmond van Eetvelde, a senior official who ran the affairs of King Leopold II's Congo Free State from Brussels, and it is impossible now to look at it without holding both of those facts at once: one of the most daring houses of the Art Nouveau age, paid for in a world shaped by the brutal exploitation of the Congo. Hôtel van Eetvelde stands on the Avenue Palmerston near the Square Ambiorix, in the European quarter, and with three other Horta houses it was inscribed in 2000 as the Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta.

   Read the complete Hôtel van Eetvelde write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hôtel van Eetvelde 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 29 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 50 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 127 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 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel van Eetvelde.

7. 7. Hôtel van Eetvelde

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hôtel van Eetvelde write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hôtel van Eetvelde closes the day.