Victor Horta

Yuriev Stas

Victor Horta (January 6, 1861 - September 9, 1947) - Belgian architect, one of the founders of Art Nouveau in architecture. Four of Horta houses (in Brussel) included in the list of World Heritage sites by UNESCO.

Hotel Solvay

Victor Horta was born and raised in Ghent, in his youth he was in Paris, worked as a decorator, studied at the practice of applied technology and trades. After his father's death in 1880 he returned to Belgium, he studied at the Brussels Academy of Art.

Alphonse Bala, the architect of King Leopold II, hired Horta to build the palace orangery, providing the first experience with steel supporting framework.

Hotel Van Eetvelde

In 1885, Horta started his own practice with the construction of three private houses, but then chose to work on public buildings.

Horta maison

In 1892, under the influence of the first exhibitions of Art Nouveau, Horta moved graphics of art nouveau in a stone, by built the house of Professor Edmond Tassel. Tassel House (1893) is the world's first building in Art Nouveau style, which caused a lot of imitations.

Hotel Tassel

Staying on top of glory, Horta is building a house Otrik in Skarbek, and included in the UNESCO list (in Brussel) houses: van Etvelde, Solvay and its own (now the Horta Museum). Using a steel frame Horta building People's House (1897, demolished in 1950), gradually moving away from trendy, pretentious curves of early modernism to a more rational, restrained style.

Otrik

During the occupation of Belgium by the Germans Horta lived in the UK and the USA. Back in Brussels, he continued an active practice. Built the Palace of Arts in Brussels and a museum in Tournai (both - 1928).

Palace of Arts

Museum in Tournai

Horta was working on Brussels-Central railway station when he died in 1947, and the building was completed to his plans by his colleagues led by Maxime Brunfaut. It eventually opened on 4 October 1952

Sources:1)ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Виктор_Орта2)www.peoples.ru/art/architecture/orta3)slovari.yandex.ru/~книги/БСЭ/Орта Виктор4)www.idh.ru/jornal/person/article2817