26. Hôtel Otlet

This building, with its startlingly unusual asymmetric Art Nouveau façade, was constructed between 1894 and 1897 to the design of the architect Octave Van Rysselberghe. The interior is laid out around a stairwell which provides access to the various rooms, each separated from one another by several steps. Henry van de Velde was involved in the interior decoration. The house was commissioned by Paul Otlet, a visionary Renaissance man who was simultaneously a writer, businessman, lawyer, Socialist politician and pacifist.