The ( French, ) or ( Dutch) is a major

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way of transport, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. Originally, the word referred to a main road or open street which was frequented thoroughly. Different terms *Roa ...

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 is located in the southern part of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

, on the border with the municipalities of Saint-Gilles and

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 ...

, where it runs south–east from the to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos, covering a distance of . It is named in honour of both Queen Louise, the first Queen of the Belgians and wife of King Leopold I, and Princess Louise, King Leopold II's eldest daughter. The Avenue Louise is one of the most prestigious and expensive avenues in Brussels, lined with high-end fashion stores and boutiques. It also houses many

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

and offices. The avenue is served by Louise/Louiza metro station at one end (on lines 2 and 6 of the

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro ( ; ) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three '' premetro'' lines. The metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6 wi ...

), as well as the

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

lines 8 and 93, which run its entire length.

History

Inception and construction

The Avenue Louise was first proposed in 1844 by two private property developers, Jean-Philippe De Joncker and Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, who submitted to the

a plan for a monumental avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access from Brussels' city centre to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos. This large avenue was to be drawn as an extension of the district they had created in 1838–39 around the current "Louise bottleneck" (''see below''). Inspired by the

Boulevards of Paris The ''grands boulevards'' The ''Grands Boulevards'' are the quintessence of the Parisian boulevards. Their origin is a plan initiated by Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the late 1660s, of comprehensive reforms and remodeling o ...

, it was also to be one of the first '' Haussmann-esque'' arteries of the city. Louisalaan Brussel met oude trams

Originally, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the towns of Saint-Gilles and

—then, as now, separate municipalities (local authorities) from the City of Brussels—through whose territories the avenue was to run. The

Belgian Government The Federal Government of Belgium ( ; ; ) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the polit ...

had declared the project a public utility in 1844, and the private developer was granted a concession to start the project in 1851, but it failed to follow through, and by 1856, that concession was revoked. However, by 1859, the Government regranted the concession to the same developer, as long as the City of Brussels would carry out the construction. Development began soon after, with preliminary work on grading starting in June 1860. After years of fruitless negotiations, the City of Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue, in addition to the Bois de la Cambre itself, in April 1864, and final plans for the part of the avenue south of the Louise bottleneck were formally approved in July 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual shape of today's City of Brussels and for the separation of Ixelles into two separate areas. The illogical layout of today's municipal boundary is also due to the fact that it was drawn long before urbanisation was completed. The boundary then followed the outline of old fields, paths and estates. The avenue was inaugurated in 1866. Nonetheless, it took another forty years, until 1905, for buildings to solidly line the avenue. The avenue's name pays homage to both Queen Louise, the first Queen of the Belgians and wife of King Leopold I, and Princess Louise, King Leopold II's eldest daughter, as does the /, a major square located in its upper part. This first name dates back to the construction of the bottleneck around 1840, a few years after the royal wedding between Queen Louise and Leopold I in 1832. This second name coincided with Princess Louise's birth in 1858, during the negotiations for the avenue's southward extension. The /, another square on the avenue, is named in honour of her younger sister, Princess

Stéphanie Stéphanie is a French feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born 1984), Belgian noble; wife of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg *Princess Stéphanie (disambig ...

World War II

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 ...

, following the German invasion of Belgium, Brussels was occupied by the German military. The

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

security organisation, the

Sicherheitspolizei The often abbreviated as SiPo, is a German term meaning "security police". In the Nazi Germany, Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agency, security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of ...

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...

(Sipo-SD), of which the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

was a part, set up their Brussels headquarters on the Avenue Louise. They occupied numbers 347, 418, 453 and 510; initially their headquarters were at number 453, in the ''Résidence Belvédère''. On 20 January 1943,

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Jean de Sélys Longchamps, a Brussels-born fighter pilot in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, mounted a solo attack on the headquarters at number 453. Benefitting from the wide avenues, and the large height of the apartment block relative to the neighbouring buildings, he flew his

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

at a low altitude straight towards the building, firing the plane's 20 mm cannons, before returning to England. Following this attack, the SD moved their headquarters to number 347. The cellars at this address were used to detain and interrogate captured members of the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

. The torture that took place there brought the Avenue Louise's name considerable infamy at the time. A monument to Baron de Selys Longchamps now stands in front of number 453.

Contemporary

The Avenue Louise was redeveloped after 1950 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 ...

), transforming it into an urban

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

(see Brusselisation) by tunnelling the main intersections and offering direct access to the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road). The northern part is sunken and has three tunnels—all housed in the central lane, which was widened by the removal of two rows of trees—with

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

s and car parking spaces aboveground. The three tunnels are, from north to south: the Stéphanie Tunnel, the Bailli Tunnel and the short Vleurgat Tunnel. From the 1960s onwards, the Avenue Louise was gradually transformed into an office district. The first special development plan for the Avenue Louise, drawn up in 1970, merely acknowledged this transformation. Although it attempted to remedy the discrepancies in the avenue's silhouette, the plan made no pronouncement on the allocation of the buildings, giving free rein to land

speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hope ...

. The 1970 plan also authorised the construction of towers on the avenue. High-rise buildings such as the Louise Tower (1965), the ITT Tower (1973) and the Blue Tower (1976) date from this period. At the end of the 1990s, the JNC International SA office, as part of the ''chemin de la ville'' project, studied the redevelopment of public spaces on the Avenue Louise, with the installation of new sculptures and lighting, and the redesign of pavements and surface parking areas. In spite of this, much of the post-war configuration still exists today. It implies that no metro line runs through the avenue, despite its high built density and its multiple functions of shops/offices/housing, the latter being in a way replaced by these tunnels. However,

lines 8 and 93 operate on their own site from the Place Stéphanie to the Woluwe depot. The Avenue Louise is currently one of the most attractive addresses for office space. With some of

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

surfaces, it accounts for more than a fifth of the market in this sector in the Brussels Region. Luxury shops, restaurants, art galleries and

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

dealers all contribute to the liveliness and reputation of the avenue. Although regarded as a prestigious street during the day, at night, however, it has a reputation for unauthorised

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

Landmarks

The Avenue Louise is home to many upmarket shops, restaurants and offices. From north to south, notable landmarks include: * ~ /, a crucial transportation nexus, including a

way and metro station. The

Law Courts of Brussels The Palace of Justice of Brussels or Law Courts of Brussels is a courthouse in Brussels, Belgium. It is the country's most important court building, seat of the judicial ''arrondissement'' of Brussels, as well as of several courts and tribuna ...

are located nearby. * ~ /, another extremely busy square surrounded by luxury shops. The tree-bordered part of the avenue begins there. * No. 124: Louise Tower (1965), also known as the Generali Tower, one of the tallest office buildings in Brussels * No. 224: Hôtel Solvay (1895–1900), a large

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

town house by

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. He was a fervent admirer of the French architectural theoris ...

, and a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

* ~ / (which leads downhill to the nearby Place Eugène Flagey/Eugène Flageyplein) * No. 324–326: Blue Tower (1976), a functionalist office building by * No. 346: Hôtel Max Hallet (1904), another Art Nouveau town house by Victor Horta * ~ the scenic King's Garden (, ), a garden descending toward the nearby

Ixelles Ponds The Ixelles Ponds () or Elsene Ponds () are two freshwater ponds in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles, Belgium. The ponds we can see today are those spared by a 19th-century campaign of drying the wetlands of the Maelbeek valley between La ...

* ~ Olivier Strebelle's 16-tonne

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

sculpture ''Le Phénix 44'' commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of Brussels, which stands athwart the roundabout at the King's Garden * ~ /, which features several statues, the entrance to

La Cambre Abbey La Cambre Abbey (, ) or Ter Kameren Abbey () is a former Cistercian abbey in the City of Brussels, Belgium. It is located in the Maelbeek valley between the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos and the Ixelles Ponds. The abbey church is a Cathol ...

, and the massive ITT Tower (1973) * ~ a

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

flanked by two twin neoclassical former

octroi Octroi (; , to grant, authorize; Lat. ''auctor'') is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption. Antiquity The word itself is of French origin. Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, being known in R ...

pavilions () of the

Namur Gate The Namur Gate (, ; , ) was one of the medieval city gates of the second walls of Brussels, Belgium. Built in the 14th century, it was one of the major entry points on the city's south-eastern side to Ixelles. The gatehouse was demolished in 1 ...

ending the avenue. Beyond it lies the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos. * the nearby Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

File:BE Bruxelles Horta Solvay.JPG, Hôtel Solvay ( Horta, 1895–1900) File:Belgique - Bruxelles - Avenue Louise - Blue Tower - 01.jpg, Blue Tower (Montois, 1976) File:Square du Bois (Avenue Louise à Bruxelles).jpg, Entrance of the Square du Bois/Bossquare, Avenue Louise 535–587 File:Belgique - Bruxelles - Olivier Strebelle - Avenue Louise - 01.jpg, ''Le Phénix 44'' ( Strebelle, 1994) File:Anciens pavillons d'octroi de la Porte de Namur 01.JPG, Former

pavilion at the entrance of the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos

The "Louise bottleneck"

The part of the Avenue Louise between the / and the / is called in French ("the Louise bottleneck"). With two tramway lines and thousands of cars sharing this narrow segment of the avenue, large traffic jams occur during rush hours. The problem was already obvious in the early 1980s, so a tram tunnel under the bottleneck was built along with the metro station at the Place Louise. However, construction was abandoned toward its end due to protests of local businesses fearing losses if patrons were to be diverted through a tunnel.La saga du goulet Louise
- EuroBRU.com - Retrieved 12 July 2007. The nearly-completed, vast tramway tunnel under the Louise bottleneck remains unused as of 2009. Various solutions to the traffic problem have been considered. One proposes pedestrianising the whole segment, with trams running on the surface and only delivery vehicles authorised at certain hours. Another, much more costly idea, involves finishing the tunnel and diverting all trams underground. Tramway lines 8 and 93 run the entire length of the avenue, all on segregated track except in the short Louise bottleneck section.

Embassies

The Avenue Louise houses many

, including those of: * No. 130:

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

* No. 176:

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

* No. 181:

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

* No. 225:

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

* No. 250:

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

* No. 350:

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

* No. 363:

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

* No. 379:

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

* No. 425:

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

* No. 475:

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

* No. 489:

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Representative Offices

* No. 284/286:

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

* * {{cite web , url= https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/search?per_page=96&q=Avenue+Louise , title= (Avenue Louise) , via=

Europeana Europeana is a web portal created by the European Union containing digitised cultural heritage collections of more than 3,000 institutions across Europe. It includes records of over 50 million cultural and scientific artefacts, brought togethe ...

(Images, etc.)
History and architecture of Avenue Louise (St Gilles)
- on the irismonument site - ''l'inventaire du patrimoine architectural de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale''

- on the irismonument site -''l'inventaire du patrimoine architectural de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale'' Louise City of Brussels 19th century in Brussels Shopping districts and streets in Belgium