Pelgrims House and Pierre Paulus Park

The work of architect A. Pirenne, this patrician house with stables, first owned by the Colson family, was sold in 1927 to the industrialist Eugène Pelgrims, before being taken over by the municipality in 1963.

A lover of arts, the pharmacist, blessed with a strong sense of culture, gave his approval for a façade inspired by the Flemish Renaissance style. Although the interior was modified, a few original elements can still be made out, most notably an elegant blue glass roof resting on a concrete structure sheltering a winter garden. Intended to house exotic plants, the space is decorated with a fountain of white, blue and gold mosaics, in the centre of polished blue stone tiling, inlaid with gold, yellow and green marble, laid out in a star pattern. The bathroom has also retained its pretty mosaic tiles and beige, black-edged marbrite (imitation marble made from glass) facing. In the lobby, ornamental white-veined, yellow and black marble tiling leads to the oak staircase. The property overlooks the old Romance-themed park where the River Elsbeek once flowed. This green space now bears the name of Expressionist painter Pierre Paulus de Châtelet, who died in Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis on 17 August 1959.