STIB/MIVB knows how to accessorize.

Foxes in architecture. Forest, Brussels.

British week in Brussels, 1967. Place de Brouckère.

The Palace of Charles of Lorraine, Brussels. Home to a protestant chapel from 1816. Over the rest of the century, a knot of British-themed commerce sprang up between here and place Royale. Taverns (The Turf, Wellington etc), hotels, bookshops, travel agents, grocers, fixers.

Just behind Brussels cathedral, the 1921 Westminster Foreign Bank, built by the Franco-British duo Mewes & Davis, also responsible for the London Ritz and Luton Hoo

While the Brussels traffic still snarls below on the Avenue Louise, the renovated icon promises energy-efficient luxury and a nostalgic nod to its 1960s origins. brusselstimes.com/brussels-2/133…

The latest @BrusselsTimes Magazine is on sale now!
Few would tie Belgium to carmaking. Beer, chocolate, comic strips, Art Nouveau, yes.
But cars?
Yet, Belgians are pretty good it, with a remarkable record as automotive pioneers.
Cover art by @lectrr

We have three features on august Brussels venues reopening. @goodclimate writes about the Louise Tower, one of the city’s first skyscrapers in the city, a sleek, modernist, 1960s monument that has been stripped and remade for the 21st century.

It was supposed to be Belgium’s El Dorado, but the little-known Caribbean colony in Guatemala would end in destitution, disease, dictatorship and disaster. brusselstimes.com/belgium/127273…

I wrote about the architect of the Flagey Building Joseph Diongre and reconstruction in Brussels a century ago and now. Free to read here.
brusselstimes.com/magazine/12641…

Le PS est arrivé 3e à Ixelles, derrière le MR et Ecolo. Mais Romain De Reusme (PS), troisième score après Calomne et Doulkeridis, va tout de même décrocher le mayorat et prendre la tête de la coalition MR-PS-Engagés.

Who knows if patriotic pride spurred Belgian modernist architecture in the 1920s? brusselstimes.com/belgium/126411…

Already along the central Boulevard Anspach, Close says €1 billion has been spent by businesses eager to set up shop in the renovated car-free zone.
brusselstimes.com/1246310/can-ph…

The extraordinary St John the Baptist in Molenbeek. One of the earliest concrete churches in Belgium, a cheap solution for a poor parish. 1932 by Joseph Diongre. I wrote about him in the new Brussels Times Magazine.

@goodclimate reflects on the rich legacy of Flagey architect, Joseph Diongre.
@pmeller relates the unlikely exile of the Prince of Soul, Marvin Gaye, to Ostend, where he recorded Sexual Healing.
@aldansby takes a weekend break to Kortrijk, a city shaped by the linen trade.

The latest @BrusselsTimes Magazine is on sale now!

Our special issue, ahead of the October 13 local elections, examines what your mayor can do for you – and how your vote contributes to more responsive and inclusive governance.
Cover art by @lectrr

NEWS // Hugely disappointing to learn that C20's application to list Portsmouth Civic Offices has been turned down and a COI issued, paving the way for demolition.

Designed 1969-70 by Lionel Brett, Harry Teggin & David Taylor, and built 1972-76, this was the centrepiece of a boldthe island city. At the time of its completion, the AJ declared that ‘Portsmouth has achieved a space worthy of any city in Europe. It is at last urbane.'

Portsmouth is just latest in a growing list of purpose-built post-war civic complexes to have been condemned in recent years - a significant chapter of our recent history being steadily erased.

This year's heritage festival in Brussels is on 14-15 September. The focus is on postwar buildings and planning, especially post-1970. A first curtain-raiser.
rtbf.be/article/la-bru…

No need for concessions on red lines, UK readers can get preferential access to my articles about Brussels now.
brusselstimes.com/author/frederi…