Something to Declare

Maison Hannon, Design Museum, and the Atomium

October 26-27, 2025

On Sunday, we made an attempt to see the Horta Museum. You’ll recall that Victor Horta (1861-1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His home is a museum, and a resplendent example of his art. We were encouraged by the sign in the window of a store seen from the tram:

That was the good news. The bad news was that this week is a sort of national holiday; we were unable to make an online reservation. We tried to do a walk-in, but it was a no-go. They said to come back Tuesday at 2:00 and try again. Fingers crossed.

As a back-up, we returned to the Maison Hannon. We’d seen it from the outside the previous Sunday,

on our Art Nouveau walk. Maison Hannon was designed by Jules Brunfault for the couple Marie Debard and the industrialist Édouard Hannon, constucted 1902-1904. The interiors were just as impressive as the exterior:

We then took the tram to the Grote Markt and went back to Chocolatier Mary (and other venues) to purchase treats for the folks back home.

On Monday, most museums are closed. An exception is the Design Museum in the northwest part of Brussels.

The thing with the silver globes (above, top) is the Atomium, a remnant of Expo 58, the Brussels worlds fair (more about that later.)

We’d scoffed at the main exhibit, the Plastic Design Collection. Plastic? Really? Shades of “The Graduate” (1967), i.e., the comment made by Mr. McGuire character to Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman): “Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics.” I mean, aren’t plastics the ecological Public Enemy No. 1?

Well, yeah, maybe. But we were pleasantly surprised to see the story of plastic in design from its origination as “Bakelite,” invented in 1907 by the American Chemist Leo Baekeland (remember those old black telephones with the cords covered with fabric insulation?). Giving rise to plastics in designs of clocks, telephones, kitchen gadgets……

……..tupperwares (top photo)?

Outside of the world of plastics, there was the history of things on which to sit:

Machines and workspaces for business:

And avant-garde clothing:

Nothing that I’d wear myself (just sayin’).

Leaving the Design Museum, we saw the older Art Deco buildings from the previous Brussels International Exposition (1935):

Taking advantage of a rare few minutes of sun, we walked back to the Atomium:

The Atomium now has a slew of exhibits in the individual “balls.” The connecting structures contain escalators and stairways. It was mostly stuff for kiddies, so we took the elevator to the top “ball” for some wine at the restaurant:

As you can see, the rain returned. We trammed our way home and made our plans for tomorrow: another attempt at the Horta Museum and a backup plan if we can’t get in.