The Esthetic Improvement of Brussels 
THE ESTHETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BRUSSELS 
A LEADING CITY IN THE MUNICIPAL ART MOVEMENT 
By Maurice Gerbeault 
M OST American tourists visiting Brussels 
spend their entire time in seeing the 
well-known sights announced by the familiar 
red books “ made in Germany.” Perhaps 
the strangers are right in admiring the 
ponderous beauty ol the old Dutch and 
Flemish masters and the splendid architec¬ 
tural monuments ot the city’s Grande Place. 
Still, it would seem that much of the modern 
beauty of greater Brussels ought to attract its 
due measure of attention from such a wide¬ 
awake and progressive nation as America. 
The center of the municipal agglomera¬ 
tion, which is the new Brussels, comprises 
nine communes. The old city, with its quaint 
Flemish houses, its narrow and tortuous 
streets, represents a period which, perforce, 
must soon entirely disappear. Greater 
Brussels is the boiling pot ot Belgium, the 
mixing point of the various races which make 
up the striking characteristics of this small 
but interesting nation. Moreover, without 
desiring to flatter the Belgians and depreciate 
the high sense of art possessed by their French 
neighbors, I might state that many French 
and American architects and artists, who have 
made it a point to study the different ways of 
improving the appearance of cities, admit 
that, from the point of view of external beauty, 
Brussels is ahead of all the European capitals. 
L' Art applique a la Rue , such was the name 
of the society which, eight years ago, was 
founded by young artists, sculptors, painters, 
litterateurs, newspaper men, and even private 
citizens for the express purpose of beautify¬ 
ing Br ussels. Emile Broerman, the painter, 
was the secretary and promoter of the enter¬ 
prise, and it was strongly patronized by the 
last Mayor of the city, Mr. Charles Bids, a 
clever administrator and also an art lover. 
Following the efforts of the former mayors 
Anspach and Brouckere, who had created 
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