Terrace awnings in Rue de la Bourse restored to former glory
The new terrace awnings are based on the original model and bring back the atmosphere of the old days to the heart of our capital city.
The new terrace awnings are based on the original model and bring back the atmosphere of the old days to the heart of our capital city.
State Secretary for Urbanism and Heritage Pascal Smet proudly presents the new awning of the historic “Le Grand Café” on Boulevard Anspach, right next to the Bourse building. The installation of this awning completes an important step in the renovation of the city centre. All buildings in Rue de la Bourse, including the iconic Cirio café, now have new terrace awnings, entirely based on the original model.
Urban.brussels has closely guided this project and the Brussels region has co-financed the awnings, together with the owners of the buildings.
“Brussels is going Brussels again! The new terrace awnings are based on the original design and are real gems. A result of great craftsmanship. For me, they symbolise the enormous city centre metamorphosis that we are currently undertaking. Public authorities and private parties are working together on this. Making the central avenues car-free has been a real game changer and now, step by step, we are addressing the buildings and public spaces in the wider surroundings,” concludes Pascal Smet.
The new awnings of “Le Grand Café” are the result of a very close collaboration between owner Pubstone, the architectural firm Architectures Parallèles, experts and the Brussels public service for urbanism and heritage urban.brussels, which has supervised the entire process from beginning to end. The Brussels authorities have also co-financed the very important preliminary history study and the renovation itself.
This important study revealed that the original structure from 1947 was still partially present, hidden by wooden panels. Also the green colour of the original metal structure became visible.
The original lettering was discovered in the archives. There were glass signs with the writings “Stella Artois” and “Monico Bourse”, the former name of the café. These signs and their lettering have been meticulously reproduced. The Brussels-Capital Region covered a significant part of the reproduction costs of the original elements.
