Stoclet Palace

The Stoclet Palace (French: Palais Stoclet [palɛ stɔklɛ]; Dutch: Stocletpaleis [stɔˈklɛːpaːˌlɛis]), also known as the Stoclet House, is a historic mansion in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It was designed by the Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann for the Belgian financier Adolphe Stoclet, and built between 1905 and 1911, in the Vienna Secession style. Considered Hoffman's masterpiece, the residence is one of the 20th century's most refined and luxurious private houses.

The sumptuous dining and music rooms of the Stoclet Palace exemplified the theatrical spaces of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), celebrating sight, sound, and taste in a symphony of sensual harmonies that paralleled the operas of Richard Wagner, from whom the concept originated. In his designs for the Stoclet Palace, Hoffmann was particularly attuned to fashion and to the Viennese identity of the new style of interior, even designing a dress for Madame Stoclet so that she would not clash with her living room decor as she had while wearing a French Paul Poiret gown.

The Stoclet Palace is still owned by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. Until recently, no outsider, not even experts helping with restoration, were allowed in. The building has received protected status by the Monuments and Sites Directorate of the Brussels-Capital Region, and it was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2009.

The mansion is located at 279–281, avenue de Tervueren/Tervurenlaan, bordering the Square Léopold II/Leopold II-plein. This site is served by Montgomery metro station (on line 1 of the Brussels Metro), as well as the tram stop Léopold II/Leopold II (on lines 39 and 44).

Text adapted from “Stoclet Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Stoclet Palace ranks #288 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #4 of the 89 mapped in Belgium. Founded 1905 — one of 177 atlas entries founded in the 20th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 9,478 times in the last 60 days, more than 92% of the atlas. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Brussels, 5 km away. See how Belgium compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗