User:Bangiomorpha/Immeuble De Heug

The Immeuble De Heug ("De Heug building"), also known as Pianos De Heug and Piano De Heug, is a modernist building built in 1933 in Charleroi, Belgium by Marcel Leborgne for the piano manufacturer De Heug. It was used as a sales room and an auditorium. When the company disappeared, the building was mainly used for housing. After being threatened with demolition, the building was meticulously restored between 2015 and 2020.

The building makes particular use of curves that emphasise the vertical aspect - as in the case of the cylindrical stairwell - and the horizontal aspect in the rounded corner of the glass roof and the balcony on each floor.

History
De Heug is a company founded at the end of the 19th century in Marcinelle. As a piano manufacturer, it enjoyed an international reputation and received several awards. Its greatest prosperity came in the 1920s, when it had a sales room in the Place de la Ville-Basse in Charleroi. When the founder died in 1932, the company was taken over by his three sons, who decided to build a new auction house in the same town.

The building, located at the corner of Quai Arthur Rimbaud and Rue du Bastion d'Egmont, on the banks of the Sambre, was built in 1933-1934 by Marcel Leborgne, probably in collaboration with his brother Henri.

The company quickly went into decline following the crisis of the 1930s, then the Second World War, and finally the fact that the piano lost its place in the furnishings of bourgeois homes. One of the three brothers, Paul, continued the business alone. His son Pierre succeeded him in 1958. Following the competition from electric instruments, he became a manufacturer of kitchen furniture in the 1960s. The company ceased its activities in 1981.

Apart from the commercial duplex on the ground floor, all the floors were used for housing. At that time, the sign "Pianos De Heug" was replaced by the inscription "Dolisy", the name of a customs agency, the new occupant of the ground floor.

In 1985, the building was damaged by an attack by Communist Fighting Cells on a branch of the Manufacturers Hanover Bank, a financial institution then located on the ground floor.

The building was classed in 1995 and at the end of 2002 the curved glass roof of the facade, which was damaged in a storm, was restored.

However, the building's outer envelope is deteriorating to the point where shoring and safety nets must be installed. The owners, informed by the Institut du Patrimoine Wallon ("Walloon Heritage Institute") in 2006, agreed to restore the façade.

The building was bought in the early 2010s by the limited company Saint-Lambert Promotion/Iret Development as part of a project to create a shopping center called "Rive gauche". The De Heug building was initially intended to become a youth hostel, but it is finally dedicated to hosting offices.

At the beginning of 2014, its condition was so degraded that the building's survival was compromised. Two expertises, one at the request of the owner, the other at the request of the Walloon Region, indicate that a restoration would be excessively costly. For a while, a reconstruction of the building was even considered, keeping only the stairwell and the elevator of the period from the original. A solution that the supporters of the protection considered as a "pastiche of Leborgne's work ". A citizen's mobilization supported by architects and historians allowed the building to be saved. In the end, it was decided to carry out a meticulous restoration.

During this restoration, the existing elements were preserved as much as possible. The period windows were renovated and fitted with double glazing. The original technique was reproduced to replace the interior concrete slabs that had been eaten away by humidity. The accesses to the terraces were condemned because the railings are too low compared to the current safety standards. The wiring and the original motor of the elevator shaft, also classified, were also restored. The restoration of the shell was completed in 2018, the interior fittings in 2020.

Architecture
The building, 19.80 meters high, has seven levels and a flat roof. It is a very accomplished example of Marcel Leborgne's mastery of curves.

The initial program provided for a first floor and an entresol forming a commercial duplex, three floors of apartments, one floor of studios for piano teachers and the last floor was used as an auditorium to test the pianos. The building has a total of 860 m 2, including a first floor of 112 m2 with a mezzanine of 85 m2, five floors of 120 m2 and the sixth floor of 130 m2.

The building is constructed of concrete with a travertine marble covering. During construction, the travertine slabs for the balconies were placed before concreting. Held in place by a lighter formwork, they served as formwork incorporated into the mass. On the façade, the slabs are fixed with cement blocks and copper wire.

The interior layout requires a stairwell projecting outward. In August 1933, the architect asked the Board of Mayors and Aldermen for an overhang of 1.75 meters. The Board tolerated a maximum overhang of 1.50 meters on condition that the free height on the sidewalk was 3 meters. This glass and steel column, both aesthetically pleasing and functional, emphasizes the vertical aspect of the side of the pier.

The façade on the adjacent street has a dominant horizontal aspect, accentuated by the alternating light travertine surfaces on the exterior of the balconies and the dark aspect of the windows, accentuated by the use of black Mazy marble on the overhangs. The corner situation requires that maximum light come from that side. The skylights are designed for this purpose for the main rooms of the apartments.

According to Anne-Catherie Bioul and Chantal Mengeot, the building is reminiscent of the industrial aesthetic advocated by the Bauhaus movement, marked by simplicity and rationality. Maurice Culot believes that the building is in line with the best achievements of Italian rationalism.