The Hôtel de Sélys-Longchamps

 

The Sélys-Longchamps mansion is a Gothic building dating from the beginning of the 16th century. Reworked in the 17th and 18th centuries and altered again in 1911 for Maurice de Sélys-Longchamps by the architect E. Jamar, the house consists of two sides in an upside down U-shape, forming an H.

From the street side, the house is hidden by a fenced wall and gate linking two gables. The left-hand gable has a gatehouse in the style of a chapel. The 18th-century gate opens into a main courtyard around which are arranged the main part of the house and two wings.

From the town side, the main façade of the accommodation section of the house is surrounded by two wings and faces the terraced gardens. The left-hand wing features a gable with scrolls and frieze. The right-hand wing has a circular tower at the front, which has been mentioned since the 13th century.

The buildings as a whole have typical Gothic features (trilobate arch, trefoil tracery, arcade, rider arch ceiling, etc.), as well as traditional architecture (cross windows, mullioned windows, thresholds and traverses extended into string courses, frames with glazing bars, etc.). There are also elements with an Italian Renaissance influence (monumental doors and dormer windows on the façade facing the street), etc.

Note also some of the interior decorations that give the house an exceptional character: stucco, Chinese décor, joinery and staff.

Listed: 13-05-942

Exceptional heritage site of Wallonia (some of the internal elements: Chinese décor, stucco, staff, joinery)