Liege - Architecture: Art Nouveau and More Preview

Liège-Guillemins station dates back to 1863 and has been rebuilt several times. The current station, designed by Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2009 after ten years of construction.

Its spectacular structure of steel, glass and concrete has become one of Liège’s most recognizable landmarks. Calatrava created a vast, open space filled with natural light, while the new square and pedestrian bridge helped transform the surrounding Guillemins district. The station is also an important gateway to the European high-speed rail network, with direct connections to France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

From 2022 to 2024, the station was transformed by a monumental installation by French artist Daniel Buren. As Fallen from the Sky, the Colors in Situ and in Movement covered the glass roofs with a pattern of colored panels. Changing with the daylight and the seasons, the installation created a constantly shifting dialogue between light, color and Calatrava’s architecture.

Grand Café de la Gare

An unexpected culinary stop inside the station. The Grand Café de la Gare combines a brasserie and restaurant, serving classic Belgian and French dishes, including boulets à la liégeoise. Ideal for lunch, dinner or a Belgian beer.

Museum Zone

The station’s museum zone regularly hosts major exhibitions. Check the current exhibition and be surprised.

Designed as his own home and architectural studio, Maison Pirnay reflects Clément Pirnay’s search for a distinctly modern architecture. Victor Horta praised the house in 1912 for its “sincerity and artistic loyalty”.

The façade combines brick, blue stone and reinforced concrete, with striking references to the Viennese Secession. Sculpted details include compasses and squares referring to the architect’s profession, winged sphinxes, cats and floral garlands.

In 1927, the house was raised by two floors, creating a remarkable layered composition with hanging gardens. The building narrowly escaped demolition in the late 1980s and was later restored.

Designed by Clément Pirnay in collaboration with Paul Jaspar, this elegant Art Nouveau building is a fine example of early 20th-century architecture in Liège. Its reinforced-concrete structure and three floors are richly decorated with sgraffito, mainly depicting vines.

The façade was carefully restored between 2002 and 2004 by architect Alain Dirix. The ground floor now houses Pâtisserie Jeanpierre, whose discreet interior of marble, glass and wood complements rather than competes with Pirnay’s original architecture. The renovation was nominated for the Liège Heritage and Matrimony Prize 2023.

Architect Clément Pirnay makes ingenious use of the narrow plot between adjoining buildings. Across six levels, he creates a compact yet carefully organized family home for an organist, making the most of every available space.

The ground floor contains the office and, at the rear of the plot, a dedicated organ room. Its ceiling of glass blocks simultaneously forms the terrace of the floor above. The living spaces are arranged on the upper levels and connected by a central staircase, with most floors opening onto a rear balcony.

The architecture is restrained but highly detailed, featuring metal doors and grilles, concrete bow windows, window frames patented by Pirnay, integrated wooden furniture, and mosaic and granite floors.

Maison Piot is one of Liège’s most striking Art Nouveau buildings. Designed in 1904 by architect Victor Rogister, it features sculptural work by Oscar Berchmans. Its façade combines elegant organic forms with an expressive and richly detailed sculptural decoration.

Also known as the Maison des Francs-Maçons, the building is associated with Liège’s Masonic history. Its decorative and symbolic elements make it a distinctive example of the city’s Art Nouveau heritage.

This house originally formed part of a commission for two adjoining residences by entrepreneur Gédéon Michel. One was the home of painter Émile Berchmans, which has since been demolished.

Architect Paul Jaspar combined traditional architecture with modern elements, a characteristic approach around 1900. The restrained façade and floor plan were enhanced by the use of industrial materials, including steel beams supplied by Cockerill.

Particular attention was also given to hygiene and comfort. The kitchen, located in the basement, was connected directly to the dining room by a service lift – an innovative solution for its time.

Built in 1904, this house was designed by Liège architect Victor Rubbers. It forms part of the rich architectural heritage of Rue de Rotterdam, where a number of bourgeois townhouses and urban residences were built around the turn of the 20th century.

Rubbers worked at a time when traditional architecture was gradually evolving towards new forms and materials. This transition can be seen in the careful treatment of the façade, its proportions and decorative details. The house is a modest yet characteristic example of Liège architecture at the beginning of the 20th century.

Paul Questienne, a civil engineer by training and road service inspector, is the sponsor of this residence built by Paul Jaspar, at the time a young architect on the rise of his professionally. A typical example of the bourgeois house, on which the new architecture must be measured on the scale of urban space, the dwelling is located at the crossroads of traditional and modern architecture.

The mixed brick-iron structure introduces the use of a static model which allows major flexibility in the distribution and size of the openings; the distribution of interior spaces nevertheless remains traditional.

The exterior appearance maintains historicist features – decorated stone cornices, corbel brackets – which, however, presents a boldly anti-classical design, such as the entrance door rail which blends with the front body located above.

The Liège Design Center was created as a meeting place for design and creativity. It allows the public to discover the work of Liège designers while giving young creatives space to work, experiment and collaborate through a co-working space and workshop. Two additional floors provide offices for rent.

The project also combines work and living, with 13 apartments developed for sale or rental. Together, these functions create a mixed urban environment bringing design, entrepreneurship, work and housing under one roof.

Architects: ALTIPLAN Architects

The Paradis Tower, also known as the Finance Tower of Liège, is a striking high-rise in the Guillemins district. Standing 118 metres high, or 136 metres including its antenna, it is the tallest building in Wallonia.

The tower accommodates around 1,100 employees of the Belgian Federal Public Service Finance in Liège. It replaced two older office buildings, whose demolition began in 2015.

Together with Santiago Calatrava’s Liège-Guillemins railway station, the tower has become a new architectural landmark in the district. Its development reflects the major transformation taking place around the station, where infrastructure, offices and new urban functions come together.

Architects: M. & J.-M. Jaspers – J. Eyers & Partners / Bureau d’Architecture Greisch

@claude

This commercial project received the 2015 Prize for Architecture and Urban Planning from the City of Liège. Architects MDW Architecture and H+G Architects give the traditional market and retail building a contemporary expression, demonstrating how commercial architecture can also contribute to the quality of the city.

The jury particularly praised the rhythm and richness of the façades, as well as the clarity and spatial quality of the design. By placing part of the parking underground, the project frees up space at street level for pedestrians and a passage through the block. In this way, the development adds value not only to the commercial function but also to the surrounding public space.

The HELMo Campus Guillemins is a contemporary educational building in the Guillemins district, designed by Luc Nelles Architectes associés for the Haute École libre mosane. The project forms part of the wider transformation of the district following the construction of Santiago Calatrava’s railway station and other new urban developments.

The design combines clear volumes, abundant natural light and a legible spatial layout. Particular attention was given to the use of colour, with the chromatic study developed by Nathalie Horion. Colour is used not only as a decorative element but also as a way of identifying and distinguishing different spaces and functions within the campus.

Engineer: Lemaire (Nicolas Michel, BEIO)
Client: Haute École libre mosane

This house, built in 1908, was designed by Liège architect Joseph Nusbaum. It forms part of the neighbourhood’s characteristic bourgeois residential architecture and reflects the changing approach to domestic architecture in Liège at the beginning of the 20th century, when architects increasingly explored more personal and contemporary forms.

An interesting example of a period in which traditional residential architecture, decoration and new design ideaswere increasingly combined.

With thanks to @RaymondDejong & @isartnouveau.

This house was designed in 1906 by Liège architect Paul Jaspar, one of the important figures of Art Nouveau in Liège. Jaspar had not only a famous brother-in-law, the architect Paul Hankar, one of the pioneers of Belgian Art Nouveau, but also a celebrated second cousin: Bobby Jaspar (1926–1963).

Bobby Jaspar was born in this house. He became an internationally respected Belgian jazz saxophonist and flautist, spending much of his career in Paris and the United States.

A memorial plaque on the façade commemorates this remarkable musical connection to the house.

Built in 1906, this house was designed by Paul Jaspar, one of Liège’s leading architects during the transition towards modern architecture. It forms part of a remarkable group of bourgeois residences along Rue Vieux Mayeur, where Jaspar and his contemporaries explored new architectural ideas at the beginning of the 20th century.

The house shows how Jaspar reinterpreted the traditional bourgeois townhouse with a more contemporary façade and carefully considered detailing. Together with its neighbours, Maison Van der Schrick reflects the architectural renewal that gradually transformed this part of Liège around the turn of the century.

This striking entrance creates a surprisingly modernist intervention in the streetscape. The sculptural white canopy, slender rounded columns and clean geometric lines contrast strongly with the surrounding brick buildings.

The combination of reinforced concrete, flowing forms and a functional access ramp gives the entrance almost the character of a small architectural pavilion. Its modest scale and unexpected contrast with its surroundings make it particularly intriguing.

The Résidence César Franck marks the beginning of the collaboration between Jean Poskin and Henri Bonhomme, two architects who would later become important figures in the development of high-rise architecture in Liège.

The building’s large terraces and generous windows reveal particularly the influence of the young Henri Bonhomme. Its open layout and strong horizontal lines give it a distinctly post-war modernist character.

The ground floor features an abstract work by artist Rets, executed as a fresco in enamelled zinc.

Opposite stands the Résidence Notger I, also designed by Poskin and Bonhomme. Its rounded concrete façade and curved terraces bear more of Poskin’s signature and retain echoes of Art Deco. Together, the two buildings illustrate how Liège architecture in the 1950s was moving towards a more open and distinctly modern approach to high-rise housing.

Built on a triangular site between the street and the railway tracks, the building takes the form of a V. One wing faces the street while the other runs alongside the tracks. At their meeting point, a large opening marks the main entrance.

The façades are defined by a regular rhythm of vertical windows. The structural system allows the floors to span from façade to façade without additional supports inside, creating a highly flexible interior layout.

The project effectively completes the urban block while responding sensitively to its complex railway setting. The architects also designed the nearby signal box on Rue de Namur (2007–2011).

After the First World War, the University of Liège, based in the historic city centre since 1817, needed new facilities for the rapidly expanding fields of science and engineering. In 1924, the university acquired eight hectares of land around the ruins of the former Val-Benoît Abbey.

Under the direction of professor Marcel Dehalu, an ambitious scientific campus was developed from the 1930s onwards. Five institutes were planned: chemistry and metallurgy, mineral sciences, thermodynamics, mechanics and civil engineering. The first buildings were officially inaugurated in 1937, and the campus gradually became one of Belgium’s outstanding examples of modernist and industrial architecture.

Damaged during the Second World War, the complex was restored after 1945. From 1967 onwards, the university gradually moved its activities to the new Sart-Tilman campus. The last students left Val Benoît in 2006.

Regeneration

After years of abandonment, Val Benoît began a new chapter in the early 21st century. Several buildings have been restored and given new uses. The aim is to create a mixed urban district combining offices, businesses, co-working spaces, education, housing and public areas, while preserving the site’s remarkable modernist architecture.

Thermoelectric Power Station and Thermodynamics Laboratory

Built in 1932 · Architect: Albert-Charles Duesberg

This complex is one of the architectural highlights of Val Benoît. Its carefully arranged geometric volumes are built in bush-hammered concrete and extensive glazing, with some window frames measuring as much as 12 by 15 metres. The strongly cubist design reflects, among other influences, the work of Henry van de Velde.

Here, the architecture follows the function. The vast column-free spaces were designed for boilers and technical equipment. The power station supplied the university buildings with gas, drinking water, hot water and electricity; surplus electricity could even be fed into the public network.

A 50-metre-high chimney tower forms a striking vertical landmark. The complex is therefore not only an outstanding example of modernist architecture, but also a remarkable monument to the development of science, engineering and industrial construction in the interwar period.

Institute of Mechanics – University of Liège
1932–1939 · Architect: Fernand Campus
Rue Ernest Solvay 21

The Institute of Mechanics was one of the last major university buildings completed at Val Benoît. Its design relates closely to the neighbouring institutes while developing its own identity. The plan is based on a square crossed by a diagonal axis, with entrances positioned at either end.

The structure is entirely made of reinforced concrete. Its brick façades echo those of the Institute of Chemistry, while other elements refer to the bush-hammered concrete of the thermoelectric power station. The most distinctive features are the convex glass roofs above the two entrance halls. The entrance facing the campus is particularly striking, positioned where the two wings meet, while the entrance on Rue Ernest Solvay is more discreetly integrated into the truncated corner.

The institute housed departments devoted to machine construction, combustion and hydraulic engines, aeronautics and aerodynamics, metrology and meteorology. The building reflects the central role of engineering and scientific research within the Val Benoît campus.

Institute of Chemistry and Metallurgy – University of Liège
1930–1936 · Architect Albert Puters · Rue Armand Stévart 2

Professor and architect Albert Puters adopts a strikingly simple architectural language here. The main building stretches for 100 metres along the street, with 25 bays over three levels. At its centre, a slightly recessed entrance hall is crowned by a monumental clock. Two return wings, each about 75 metres long, enclose the interior space and give the complex an E-shaped plan, allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the different sections.

The building housed departments including analytical and industrial chemistry, electrochemistry, physical chemistry, metallurgy and steelmaking. Its architecture is resolutely functional: laboratories, lecture halls, classrooms and circulation routes are clearly organised according to their purpose, creating an efficient and easily understood layout.

The large laboratories, with a 15-metre clear span, are grouped at the ends of the side wings, while the auditoriums and classrooms occupy the main block.

The structure consists of a steel frame encased in reinforced concrete, supported by 426 vertical and inclined Franki piles. On the exterior, the structural system is concealed behind a façade of purple brick. Cut stone is used for the bases, stair treads and window sills, forming subtle horizontal lines that emphasise the building’s length. The result is a powerful example of architecture in which function, light, flexibility and structural clarity come together with remarkable simplicity.

Institute of Civil Engineering – University of Liège
1936 · Architect Joseph Moutschen · Quai Banning

With its extremely sober design, the Institute of Civil Engineering is undoubtedly one of the major buildings of the Val Benoît campus. Designed by Joseph Moutschen, professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, it housed departments including hydraulics, civil and industrial architecture, mining, surveying and railway operations. Henry van de Velde later highlighted the exceptional architectural value of the campus as a whole.

Built on Franki foundations, the building combines a steel structural frame with a reinforced-concrete superstructure. Its most striking quality is its abundance of natural light. Entrance halls, stairwells, corridors, offices, classrooms and auditoriums are all carefully arranged to make the most of daylight. A large staircase, for example, is illuminated through a single window opening extending 22 metres in height.

The entrances and vertical circulation are concentrated at the two ends of the building. On the Meuse side, the main hall takes the form of a cube, while the hall facing the campus is a tall rectangular volume. To counterbalance the building’s strong horizontal character, Moutschen introduces a series of slender vertical elements—pillars, concrete planes and stairwell structures. The result is a restrained yet monumental piece of modernist architecture, where light and structure play a central role.