Victor Horta

Victor Pierre Horta was born 6 January 1861 in Belgium, a fervent admirer of French theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc whose ideas he reshaped into something entirely new. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels (1892-93) is often considered the first Art Nouveau house: curving vegetal forms, steel frames, open floor plans, light flooding through skylights and glass. The style traveled - Hector Guimard borrowed it for Paris apartment blocks and the Metro entrances. Horta kept building: the Maison du Peuple (1895-99), the Centre for Fine Arts (1923-29), Brussels-Central station (1913-52), his work growing more geometric, more classical, columns replacing tendrils. In 1932 King Albert I made him a baron. When Art Nouveau fell out of favor many of his buildings were abandoned or destroyed, but four survived into recognition: UNESCO added the Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and his own house to the World Heritage List in 2000. He died 8 September 1947.