1986-1996

Cleaning of the facade (priv. coll.)

The last owner reluctantly accepted to part with it for a couple of artists who wished to return it to its former glory.

The new owners immediately fell in love with the house. They had soon set in train a first restoration project the first outwards sign of which was a grand cleaning of the facade. Message received by tourists who flocked back to the house in the wake of renewed interest in Art Nouveau. At the same time, the walls and columns were the object of a first investigation; this loving interest gave rise to an in-depth study. The funding it pointed to unfortunately just could not be found.

The couple’s activities regularly took them away from Brussels, and that empty house was an easy target for robbers. The couple fixed an alarm, secured the doors and more importantly offered the use of the place to a friend freshly arrived from abroad.

This last tenant would act as a caretaker for a few months from February 1993 on. But life in a large house perhaps a little dark is not everyone’s cup of tea: she would return her key in December of the same year.