20. Villa les Hêtres

With Villa Les Hêtres, one of the most iconic villas in northern Brussels is opening its doors to the public at BANAD. The villa was built in 1927 by Emile De Boelpaepe at the request of Paul Koninckx, one of the co-owners of Gérard Koninckx Frères, a company specialising in the import of exotic fruits from the Belgian Congo. As early as 1928, Koninckx had an extension built which slightly disrupts the symmetry of the façade. The Art Deco interior décor is a fine example of 1920s bourgeois taste, but also holds a few surprises, notably geometric stucco work, stained-glass windows depicting colonial motifs linked to seafaring, and stylised radiator covers. The guided tour also takes you through the surrounding park, which covers more than one hectare and is home to numerous remarkable trees and intriguing landscape features that would be worth studying in greater detail from a historical perspective. The villa and its surrounding garden have enjoyed protected status since 2022.