What if streets could talk? Avenue Victoria would tell tales of transformation. This leafy avenue has witnessed Brussels’ evolution. Avenue Victoria is more than just a road. It is a piece of living history.
Avenue Victoria sits at the edge of the Bois de la Cambre. This gives it a unique, natural feel. The avenue runs parallel to Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. Its ends connect to Avenues Jeanne and Air Marshal Coningham. Avenue de l’Orée crosses it in the middle.
Originally the design of Avenue Victoria dates back to 1869. Landscape architect Édouard Keilig planned it as part of the Bois de la Cambre’s development. This was before Avenue Franklin Roosevelt existed. Back then, Avenue Victoria stretched to the Chaussée de La Hulpe. Today, a private path marks this old route. It runs behind properties on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. The Brussels council removed part of it from the road network in 1932. Another part became Avenue S’ Heeren Huys.
The Brussels communal council named Avenue Victoria on April 26, 1878.
In the 1870s small country villas sprung up along Avenue Victoria. These were in a picturesque eclectic style. Architect Félix Kufferath designed a “chalet” in 1871. Ernest Delune created a villa in 1898. The Brasserie de la Petite-Suisse also stood here. Vermeren-Coché commissioned it near Avenue de Cérès in 1884. These buildings are now gone. Only an Art Nouveau villa from 1904-1906 remains. Find it at 89A Avenue Franklin Roosevelt.
Brussels and the Belgian state made a decision in 1907. They chose Solbosch as the site for the 1910 World Exhibition. The city acquired land. It demolished most buildings and leveled the ground. After the event in the 1920s the city resold the land as plots.
Royal decrees on March 23, 1907, and July 16, 1907, ratified the Solbosch plan. They defined its future look which took shape in the 1920s.
Many plots also face the prestigious Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. Buildings on the Avenue Victoria side became dependencies. These included storage areas garages and servants’ quarters. This followed district regulations. At numbers 12 and 13 stand two Beaux-Arts buildings from 1929. One was a garage with a chauffeur’s apartment. The other housed the maître d’hôtel. Until 1989-1990, they belonged to number 33 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. They have since been converted into separate homes.
Villas have been constructed on some plots since the late 1920s until the 1960s. Some display modernism like number 19. Others show Beaux-Arts style like number 22. Number 21 designed by architect Ad. Pirenne in 1929 leans towards traditionalism. Jacques Saintenoy’s villa at number 23 from 1937 shows “classical modernism”. It has a severity typical of the architect. C. Votron designed number 25 in the same year. It still shows eclecticism.
Today as you walk along Avenue Victoria note the chestnut trees. See how one side borders the Bois de la Cambre. Imagine the villas that once stood here. Think about the World Exhibition of 1910. Avenue Victoria represents a journey through time. It shows how Brussels has grown and changed.