In the twenty-year period when the garden city
movement flourished in Belgium several medium to small sized developments were
built, mostly near large cities. The ideas for building these garden villages
to relieve larger cities by building self-sufficient neighbourhoods come from
England and the Netherlands (mainly through the book Tuinsteden by G Feenstra
from 1920). The aim was to create new garden villages on the edge of the
overpopulated suburbs of Brussels. Around Brussels many were planned, but only
some 15 projects were built. Three of these are located in Anderlecht an
historic city that is now one of the nineteen municipalities that make up the
Brussels-Capital Region (and thus comparable to a London Borough).
The Housing Society Anderlechtse Haard (Hearth of
Anderlecht) was founded in 1907 after the example of Dutch Housing Cooperatives
that were created from 1901 onwards. The Housing Society played an important
role in delivering new social housing. In three places this took the shape of a
garden village: La Roue / Het Rad, Bon Air / Goede Lucht and Moortebeek.
Anderlechtse Haard funded the first social housing to
be built in Anderlecht in 1908 on the Rue des Colombophiles
(Duivenmelkersstraat) and Rue des Citoyens (Burgerstraat). After WW1 a garden
village was developed on the adjacent land. This Cité de la Roue or Tuinwijk
Het Rad was built during the 1920s on a site near the Canal Brussels-Charleroi
and the railway to Ghent. The name of the new garden village was derived from
the former breaking wheel of Anderlecht that stood here. Such a wheel was a
torture device used for capital punishment of the worst criminals and as a
means of displaying the body.
Work started in 1921. The placement of the buildings
and the layout of the streets and public spaces was designed by the well known
urbanist Louis Van der Swaelmen. The new garden village was spatially little
more than an extension of the late 19th century neighbourhoods of Anderlecht
built for rehousing people displaced by the construction of the Law Courts in
the Marolles-district of Brussels and the covering of the Senne. It greatly
differs however from the neighbouring areas in layout and type of houses built.
The plan comprised of short streets around larger open spaces with short
terraces amounting to 688 dwellings in total.
The houses designed by the architects Pompe, Meckmans,
, Brunfaut, De Koninck, Jonghers and Voets are based on the so-called Dutch
type. Each house had a similar floor plan with a reception room, separate
kitchen, three bedrooms, an attic and a small garden. The houses were designed
in a limited number of layouts that mostly differed in exterior design and materials
used and that were situated along the streets alternatingly to prevent
monotony. In total almost 60 different looking houses were built. In 1938 a
school, designed by Henri Wildenblanck in a modernist cubist style and a church
dedicated to St Joseph, designed by Van Hove in a brick art deco style, were
added. The primary school dates from the first building phase.
The garden village of La Roue / Het Rad (literally The
Wheel) was built in several stages between 1922 and 1928 and has a layout of
streets parallel to a main thoroughfare with some open public spaces that
anchor the older roads and new oblique streets into a father formal street
plan. These open spaces are the Plaine des Loisirs (1), Place Ministre Wauters
(2) and Place de la Roue (3). Two closes have been incorporated: Place du
Confort (4) and Place Ernest S'Jonghers (5). No shops were part of the garden
village, only community buildings such as primary school (A), secondary school
(B) and the church of St Joseph (C); a community hall was originally part of
the plans, but was never built. The garden village nestles between pre-existing
buildings and notably the old social housing of 1908.
The older streets have prospective socialist names: Rue
de l'Energie / Wilskrachtlaan (Will-power Street), Avenue de la Persévérance /
Volhardingslaan (Perseverance Avenue), Rue de la Volonté / Wilstraat (Free Will
Street), Rue des Huit Heures / Achturenstraat (Eight Hour Street), Place du
Confort / Komfortstraat (Comfort Street), Plaine des Loisirs / Lustplein
(Leisure Plain), Rue du Savoir / Kennisstraat (Knowledge Street), Rue de la
Mécanique / Werktuigkundestraat (Mechanics Street), Avenue des Droites de
l'Homme / Mensenrechtenlaan (Human Rights Avenue), Rue de l'Emancipation /
Ontvoogdingsstraat (Emancipation Street), Rue de la Solidarité /
Solidariteitsstraat (Solidarity Street), Rue du Symbole / Zinnebeeldstraat
(Symbol Street), Rue des Plébéiens / Plebejersstraat (Plebeian Street), avenue
de la Société Nationale / Nationale Maatschappijlaan (National Housing Society
Avenue) and Rue des Citoyens / Burgersstraat (Citizens Street). Later streets
were named after important socialist figures and politicians: Minister Joseph
Wauters, Guillaume Melckmans, Jacques Boon, Ernest S'Jonghers, Guillaume Hoorickx
and Pierre van Winghen.
The garden village is at present one of the most
deprived areas in Anderlecht. Maintenance of the complex is lax at best and in
places empty properties have been boarded up. It is a shame to see how Belgium
treats its urban heritage. The Cité de la Roue is not even designated as a protected
site of historic and social importance. The inhabitants have however successfully
prevented the demolition of the Cité and have secured investment to improve the
area.
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