The Citroën Garage (; ), originally a garage and showroom, is located on the / in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It served as

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

Belux's headquarters until 2012 and continued as a showroom until 2017. The building was designed by , , and , and constructed from 1933 to 1934.

History

Early history

By the late 1920s, the ,

Belux's precursor, had its headquarters on the / in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

. Seeking to consolidate its operations, Citroën decided to move. Maurice Ravazé selected a site at the northern corner of the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

(Brussels' city centre), near the

Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal The Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal (; ), also known as the Willebroek Canal amongst other similar names, is an important canal in Belgium. The canal has a width of and a draught of , and connects Brussels with the Scheldt river at Wintam a ...

, and close to key train stations. This location previously housed a short-lived amusement park with attractions like roller coasters and .

Design and construction

Architects Dumont and Van Goethem created a modernist complex using glass, steel, and concrete, featuring an innovative night-lighting concept for the

showroom A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921 A showroom is a large space used to display products or show entertainment. Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances ...

. The design adapted to existing structures, leading to a unique layout. The main showroom was located at the corner of the Square Sainctelette/Sainctelettesquare and the /, with additional buildings for displaying the latest models and housing offices. Workshops occupied the northern two-thirds of the block, with organized circulation for clients, employees, and suppliers. Construction began on 20 October 1933, and finished in the spring of 1934. The project received enthusiastic support from the Brussels City Council, who believed it would revitalize the area and boost the local economy.

Wartime and post-war

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the garage was occupied and bombed by the Germans, and later served as a garage for

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

combat vehicles. After the war, temporary facilities were used until repairs allowed the garage to reopen in 1947.

Mid-20th century

In preparation for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (

Expo 58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau Internati ...

), architect Louis Hoebeke added a gas station and exhibition platform to the showroom. By 1958, four additional levels were constructed, and a building adjacent to the showroom was replaced to facilitate access to these new levels. Renovations continued through the 1960s and 1970s, including the addition of uniform white facades around 1980.

Transformation into museum

In 2015, the Brussels Urban Development Corporation purchased the complex to convert it into a contemporary art museum as part of a canal zone revitalization project. In 2017, a call for design proposals resulted in 92 submissions. The winning design, developed into

KANAL – Centre Pompidou KANAL – Centre Pompidou is a museum for modern and contemporary art located in Brussels, Belgium, near the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, in the former Citroën Garage buildings. The opening is scheduled for 28 November 2026. During the renovat ...

, emerged from a collaboration between the Brussels Region, Paris'

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, and .

References

External links

* {{coord, 50.8596, 4.3487, type:landmark_region:BE, display=title City of Brussels Buildings and structures in Brussels Commercial buildings completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Belgium Citroën