Heritage brochure - Atelier des tanneurs

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shops at ateliers des tanneurs, a venue with a range activities

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rigin and development

Renovated in 2005, the complex is slowly but surely venturing beyond its local confines to achieve wider recognition across Brussels, thanks to both its remarkable architecture and the dynamic nature and public appeal of the activities it now offers. Conceived as a local economy centre to revitalise a somewhat neglected neighbourhood, this vast multifunctional complex is now home to a number of constantly evolving spaces and activities of all kinds: around forty homes, a social outreach centre, a CPAS youth outreach centre, a crèche, a meeting and conference centre and a business centre. The latter comprises about fifty businesses operating in different areas : a restaurant, a market devoted entirely to organic products, retail premises, service activities in different sectors such as communications or IT, etc.

The site occupies buildings which used to house two businesses : the Palais du Vin, dedicated to selling wine, and the Merchie-Pède department store complex. The former corresponds to the building with the low, sweeping façade you see when facing the complex ; the latter, whose façade rises much higher, is on the corner of Rue des Tanneurs and Rue du Miroir. In the second half of the 19th century, the Brussels region—like all of Belgium— was marked by the Industrial Revolution. In Brussels in particular, small and medium-sized businesses and industries sprang up all over the place, completely transforming the landscape. If we go back even further in time, it is interesting to remember that the neighbourhood was originally outside the urban space defined by the city’s first protective wall, built in the 13th century. When the second set of ramparts were built in the 14th century, the neighbourhood found itself in the strip located between the first and second city walls. The second wall was built in response to a significant population growth and a desire to better protect the city. For a long time, the area between the two walls was a sparsely populated buffer zone and a second-choice location for inhabitants, despite being close to the political and financial centre. Inside that zone was Gembloux abbey, which moved to its Brussels base on the current site of the City Archives in the 17th century.

Wine The wine trade here began with the meeting of two families who worked in the same areas: the family of Victorien Brias, who had owned a patisserie and wine shop located at Rue Cantersteen since 1868 ; and the family of Henri Catteau, who owned a bakery at Schaerbeek. Henri Catteau married Victorien Brias’ daughter and the couple opened a wine shop on Rue Marché au Bois at the start of the 1880s. Ten years later, Brias et Cie was born, a company specialising in the sale of fine European wines.

The business progressively moved to the Rue des Tanneurs location from 1892. That was the year Henri Catteau bought the old bakery building—a charity establishment for manufacturing bread at low prices—, which he initially used as the warehouses for his business. When Henri died in 1901, his son Ernest took the reins alongside his mother, though she increasingly lived off rental income from the classy neighbourhoods around Avenue Louise. Gradually progressing from its role as a simple warehouse, the Rue des Tanneurs site would, on the eve of World War I, become the hub of most of the company’s activity: sales, storage, administration, and also distilling, as the company also invested in manufacturing its own spirits.

This led to the construction of the majestic main building in 1909, designed by architect Fernand Symons.

The storage areas at the rear have been kept, but the buildings facing onto the street—a series of small shops selling leather, butter, beer and so on—gave way to a large and by all accounts ostentatious construction.

After the First World War, the new building was extended at the expense of the buildings on both sides, which underwent further demolitions. As it began to focus more exclusively on selling wine and liqueurs, the company adopted the name “Palais du Vin” in 1934, becoming a point of reference for wine sales in Belgium.

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Textiles then other items Initially, Marie Pède had a small shop at 39 Rue des Tanneurs selling miscellaneous items (shoes, cloth, etc.). She married Yvon Merchie in 1890. Her commercial activity gradually expanded to involve both retail and wholesale. In 1898, the couple bought 54 Rue des Tanneurs to build a new shop, designed by architect François Timmermans, with a highly decorated façade used for advertising, of which only parts remain. The Merchie-Pède family considerably increased their venue by annexing the properties at either side of the main building around ten years later. After significant demolitions, the company had a vast complex occupying the corner of Rue des Tanneurs and Rue du Miroir.

In 1921, the creators decided to share this space by beginning “Cité Merchie-Pède”—according to the inscription on one of the windows—, a group of companies that rented space in the vast buildings. Starting with 4, 7, then 9 companies after World War II, their activities grew more diverse but mainly involved textiles and clothing. For the Merchie-Pède business itself, the wake of the Second World War brought difficult times. The decline was inevitable: the shop closed its doors in 1958. The Cité Merchie-Pède lasted some time longer before the rest of the businesses disappeared. Used for a while as warehouses for the Palais du Vin, the buildings were bought by the Brussels CPAS in 1996.

rchitecture and decor

The main building of the Palais du Vin is quite clearly Art Nouveau. The aesthetic is undeniable. The architect plays with colours—a combination of varnished brick, blue stone and sgraffito—, and makes extensive use of cast iron and natural light (skylights, light shafts and so on).

If you look carefully, you can see architectural elements which unmistakably hark back to the original role of the place: the aforementioned sgraffito work representing the crests of great wine producing regions like Anjou, Reims, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Port, Koblenz, and Madeira—the latter revealing a taste for wines which are no longer as fashionable; or vine motifs on the cast iron gates to number 60. Inside the restaurant stand the remains of old wine casks.

The Merchie-Pède building boasts a more classical tone and is undoubtedly eclectic. It also makes generous use of natural light with elements such as the famous cupola over the tea rooms on the top floor.

The complex of buildings was classified as a heritage site in 2001.

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ours and detours

The owners of Merchie-Pède ran a company which was both strict—it was “forbidden to laugh or chatter”!

—and paternalistic—parties were held for the employees, there was a retirement fund, and so on.

It seems that Merchie-Pède and the neighbouring company belonging to the Waucquez family, occupying the site where the Archives of the City of Brussels now stands, were both in the same business, namely textile wholesaling. Over the years, the former of the two began to diversify its stock, selling a bit of everything: hosiery, toys, office supplies, leather goods, crockery, household utensils and more.

In the Merchie-Pède shops, customers enjoyed a completely innovative approach: they could walk freely down the aisles, and see and touch the merchandise. They could also relax in the tea room on the top floor, under a splendid cupola, surrounded by musicians.

The Palais du Vin’s success was never questioned. Over the course of the 20th century the company went through the hands of several buyers. At the end of last century, a certain Albert Frère—a businessman considered to be the richest man in Belgium— took over management of the company. It was so successful that in the 1990s, the business had to move to more suitable premises near the canal. In the years that followed, the company was dissolved and absorbed by other groups. In 1994, the Palais du Vin building was engulfed by flames, but fortunately did not suffer too much damage.

www.visit.brussels copyright: Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles