Le Logis and Floréal Garden Cities
The garden cities of Le Logis and Floréal are without a doubt the crowning jewels of Belgium’s garden cities. The two cities, whose construction began in 1922, were designed as one large estate but on behalf of two separate cooperatives. Le Logis housed the employees of the Caisse Générale d’Epargne et de Retraite (GGER - General Pensions and Savings Fund) and civil servants. Floréal was built a year later at the initiative of typesetter workers. Listed since 1999, this village in the city comprises 1,500 properties with a host of public facilities and shops, over 80 hectares!
The houses are characterised by a rough, grey rendering. The whole garden city is admired for its flourishing vegetation, including its hundreds of Japanese cherry trees, orchards, wisteria, jasmines, etc. Spring is the perfect season to stroll around it, and why not have a picnic?
Le Logis and Floréal Garden Cities
Tuinbouw Garden City
Created in 1936, this small garden city, commissioned by the Société Nationale de la Petite Propriété Terrienne (National Society for Small Land Property) or SNPPT, was designed by architect Jean-Jules Eggericx, a specialist of social housing and garden cities in particular, following his stay in England during the First World War.
A sort of miniature version of Le Logis and Floréal, the most famous of Brussels’ garden cities, Tuinbouw (or ‘Horticulture’ in English) is a series of twinned rendered houses that have gardens that are large enough to have once kept a vegetable garden and raised a few animals (chickens, goats, rabbits, etc.).
Currently, all the properties belong to private owners, and some have undergone in-depth transformations, giving the houses a slightly affluent appearance!
Walking there is pleasant, sometimes along wide tree-lined avenues with virtually no cars... the peacefulness there contrasts with the immediate environment!
Tuinbouw Garden City
Jouët-Rey Garden City
Discreet and occupying a dense and highly urban area, this garden city had a particular purpose that was different to Brussels’ other garden cities. The 32 houses, arranged around a semi-private park, were built between 1909 and 1910 by the Brussels Hospices; at the time they were intended for elderly people who, although they were subject to certain eligibility rules, received a certain number of benefits — allowance, free medical and pharmaceutical care, etc.
After an in-depth renovation from 1997 to 1999, under the auspices of the CPAS (Centres Publics d’Action Sociale — public social services centres), the Jouët-Rey Garden City became a reception centre for vulnerable people in the commune, prioritising solidarity and an intergenerational philosophy.
The inner park, accessible to all, is entirely dedicated to relaxation and ball games — dogs and bikes are prohibited!
Jouët-Rey Garden City
Diongre Garden City
The Diongre estate, for which the buildings works spanned from 1922 to 1925, was sponsored by the Société Anonyme des Habitations à Bon Marché de Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. It bears the name of its architect, Joseph Diongre, famous, among other things, for having designed the former Belgian National Broadcasting Institute (or INR), now the Flagey building, but also the Saint John the Baptist church in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.
This garden city consists of 112 dwellings that are wonderfully harmonious. Indeed, the cladding of these modest houses oscillates between the ochre of the brick and tiles on the one hand and white rendering on the other, with the woodwork being painted blue, which in some ways evokes the open sea and the coast... If you pay close attention, you will see that the architect wanted to individualise each house with a small pictogram placed above each door!
There is very much a village atmosphere and the small winding cobbled streets are a treat for lovers of peace and tradition!
Diongre Garden City
La Roue Garden City
Anderlecht has three garden cities, which puts it first among Brussels’ communes in terms of quantity. The Société du Foyer Anderlectois housing association, formed in 1907, was very active in this commune in the west of the region. La Roue Garden City was built early, with the first properties erected in the rue des Citoyens and the rue des Colombophiles in 1907-1908. Broadly extended in the 1920s to number nearly 700 houses, La Roue Garden City is blessed with parks and green spaces. The recreation ground is the main green space. St Joseph’s Church is also in a beautiful tree-filled park, at the entrance to the city.
La Roue Garden City
Bon Air Garden City
This garden city, with a highly evocative name, lies between fields and Brussels’ ring road, on the edge of the commune of Anderlecht. Its construction by the Foyer Anderlechtois began in 1923, but the project spanned 30 years. 439 houses were built, making it possible to accommodate people whose housing in the city centre was expropriated as a result of works for the Nord-Midi railway junction.
As if the garden city’s name were not enough, the street names convey the same enthusiasm: rue de l’Hygiène, rue de la Dignité, rue de la Tempérance, rue de la Fécondité, rue de l’Enthousiasme and rue du Bonheur.
Here, you really feel as though you’ve left the city!
Bon Air Garden City
Moortebeek Garden City
In 1921, several hundred cooperative members — mainly workers residing in popular neighbourhoods in the centre of Brussels — pooled their efforts to found the ‘Foyers collectifs’ cooperative society, with the aim of building a garden city in Moortebeek. It now has 330 houses and 124 apartments providing a roof over the heads of over a thousand people. These properties were designed by 7 architects including Joseph Diongre, Fernand Brunfaut and Jean-François Hoeben.
On site, you'll discover that most of the properties can be recognised from their two-tone appearance: very pale yellow-cream and red-orange. All the streets bear the names of famous writers.
When the first cooperative member-residents moved into their houses, the works were far from being completed! No internal doors in the homes, no water or electricity supply or drain connections, unpaved streets like muddy paths, etc.
Moortebeek Garden City
Het Heideken Garden City
Het Heideken Garden City, built around place du Home, was designed by architect and urban planner Jules Ghobert. Starting in 1920 — with a construction project in 1923-1924 — it was constructed at the request of the Société Coopérative Le Home. In the 1920s, this collection of grouped dwellings was completely isolated in the fields! The road network was not what it is today and it was necessary to walk for around 10 minutes to the tram terminus that led to the city centre.
The dwellings are all single-family houses with gardens. Originally, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the collectivity of the whole, in an attempt to remove any individualisation. The differently-sized squares that connect the various spaces are intended to stimulate social exchanges.
When visiting, you will see many hedges, but experience an atmosphere akin to that of a town or village of the Middle Ages, evoking the image of community life or even of a beguinage! Nearby, you can wander through King Baudouin Park or through the Ganshoren marshes!
Het Heideken Garden City
Chomé Garden City
Less well-known than Terdelt, this garden city was built in 1928 under the management of the same Charles Roulet. Did you know that its name refers to a civil servant and chairman of the civil hospices who died in Schaerbeek at the end of the 19th century.
The Foyer Schaerbeekois, the first housing association offering affordable properties in the Brussels-Capital Region, initiated the construction of this series of houses, like for the Terdelt Garden City, in a neighbourhood with a peaceful atmosphere where, although the houses form a homogeneous whole, they each have their own specific features.
Chomé Garden City blends into the urban framework more, and the built-up area is denser. It’s still a pleasant place to live however, thanks to, among other things, the small gardens in front of each house, separating them from the street and bringing a flourishing touch of greenery!
Chomé Garden City
Van Lindt Garden City
Situated along the motorway in Auderghem, this garden city is not very large and is structured around a green space, place Van Lindt. Entrusted to architects Vanderslagmolen and Verbist, the 89 properties were inaugurated in 1922. They’re like English cottages with a front garden and larger garden at the rear.
You’ll love the peace and quiet of this residential neighbourhood, which lies only a stone’s throw from a major traffic route and very close to large municipal sports facilities on the Rouge-Cloître site, the ADEPS (Wallonia-Brussels Federation sports administration body) Sports Centre and finally the entrance to the majestic Sonian Forest!
Van Lindt Garden City
De Saulnier Garden City
Right next to the Diongre estate, you’ll come across Molenbeek-Saint-Jean’s second garden city, the Saulnier estate, which once again bears the name of its designer and architect, Armand de Saulnier. Built in 1923, it occupies a triangle-shaped plot and, while it is less embedded in nature than the others, the interior of the block nevertheless takes the form of a garden for community use. The houses, were all built using very low cost materials: agglomerated cement blocks, enhanced with brick rectangles for a touch of colour.
The Saulnier estate, of a similar size to the Diongre estate, once consisted of 99 dwellings, each with its own entrance protected by a small canopy that gives the complex a certain cachet.
Fully renovated in 2018-2019, the estate, sometimes called the Lost Corner estate, now offers 72 social housing units.
De Saulnier Garden City
Heymbosch Garden City
Heymbosch Garden City, built by the Foyer Jettois, is a creation of architect Camille Damman, known in Brussels for his involvement in the geometric Art Nouveau trend and then in Art Deco. He made his mark in this way with some spectacular buildings in Brussels.
The garden city project began in 1921. Taking inspiration from the English model, it consists of a network of alleys lined with a row of single storey houses with a small garden in front. The houses are built of red brick and with a very simple and very similar style. The interior of the blocks is also embellished with gardens that were, in times past, most often used as vegetable gardens. Today, the area remains very residential, away from the usual city bustle and the temptation of the shops!
Heymbosch Garden City
Volta Garden City
Ixelles only has one garden city — named after physicist Alessandro Volta, because the road housed the offices of the former Electricity Board — located near the well-known Ixelles cemetery. Partially designed in 1914 by architect Joseph Caluwaers, the project was only built from 1925, for the Ixelles Société Anonyme des Habitations à Bon Marché (Affordable Housing Coprporation).
The 113 buildings are a combination of single-family homes and apartment blocks. Part of the garden city underwent renovation works in 2021-2022.
Did you know...
At no. 8 on rue de l’Ordre, a plaque honours the courage of a mother and her daughter, who sheltered and protected six Jewish children during the Second World War.
But also... the garden city benefits from a lovely playground, set on a large plot on an island between rue du Relais and rue Victor Semet.
Volta Garden City
Homborch Garden City
The 120 houses of Homborch Garden City were built between 1928 and 1930. The Société Coopérative Uccloise de Construction d'Habitation à Bon Marché hired architect Fernand Bodson, with the intention of reducing the significant number of dilapidated dwellings and shacks in Uccle. It is said that the project was challenging to complete and that the architect had to regularly go and recruit workers himself at the station, and take them to the work site!
The city garden, built on the Homborchveld plateau, marked by its pronounced topography, underwent several extension phases and was renovated in the 2010s.
Here, there are no opulent-looking villas as can be seen in other Uccle neighbourhoods, but small white houses, a village atmosphere, cobbled streets, etc. Its current population is also very mixed: both older and young people, real Brusseleirs as well as people from immigrant backgrounds, etc.
Homborch Garden City
Verregat Garden City
The garden city of Verregat – quite literally the “pig hole” - is located a stone’s throw from the Heysel site which, at the time of construction, was barely urbanised. It replaced a farm and a racecourse, over a 2-hectare site. It was designed under the aegis of the Société Coopérative de Locataires Le Home and built in two phases: from 1922 to 1926 by architects Henri Derée and Jules Ghobert, then from 1951 to 1953, again by Ghobert. 177 houses and an apartment block were built during the 1920s, while the second phase saw the building of a series of 3-level apartment buildings.
As you stroll through the garden city, you’ll notice that the street names refer to the plant world (rue de la Ciboulette, rue des Pivoines, rue de la Sauge, rue du Romarin, etc.). The cobbled streets and the omnipresent vegetation make this garden city a haven of peace, right next to the Atomium!
Verregat Garden City
Terdelt Garden City
These days, ‘Terdelt’ has become the name of a neighbourhood. One could be forgiven for forgetting that historically, it was a garden city, its first part built between 1924 and 1926 by Charles Roulet and Henri Jacobs Jnr.
At the Foyer Schaerbeekois housing association’s request, the two architects had a series of so-called ‘modest’ properties built. Very soon, a little over 200 individual houses, all different from each other, were erected and sold at the same time. Most of the houses had a small front garden.
Today, in particular due to the narrow streets and curves preventing heavy car traffic, daily life there remains peaceful — it’s neighbourhood living where the residents know each other and benefit from local facilities, like the sports centre (athletics track, tennis courts, etc.).
The houses have wonderful space, and the outside landscaping makes the neighbourhood attractive, between small squares, playgrounds and tree-lined streets, with beautiful harmony offering open spaces that are ideal for relaxation!
Terdelt Garden City
Kapelleveld Garden City
If you’d like to discover the spirit and style of modernism, visit Kapelleveld Garden City! Some streets in the garden city are simply a succession of rendered cubes!
Designed by urban planner Louis Van der Swaelmen - responsible for Le Logis and Floréal garden cities in Watermael-Boitsfort - Kapelleveld Garden City was constructed from 1922 to 1926 by avant-garde architects Antoine Pompe, Huibrecht Hoste, Jean-François Hoeben and Paul Rubbers. They designed over 400 houses of nineteen different types, including 10 shop buildings. The neighbourhood has various services: events room, sports grounds, a playground, etc. And the icing on the cake is that the garden city was even served by a train station on the Brussels-Tervuren railway line.
Kapelleveld has continued to be extended, reaching 750 properties today!
Did you know... This modernist style sometimes draws inspiration from typical colonial architecture in the Congo...
Kapelleveld Garden City
Coquilhat Garden City or Foyer Etterbeekois Garden City
Built by the Foyer Etterbeekois, an affordable housing construction association, according to a 1922 building request, this garden city is located behind the Rolin artillery barracks in the well-known neighbourhood of La Chasse, barely a few minutes from Etterbeek’s other garden city, Jouët-Rey. A haven of peace in a green setting, Coquilhat Garden City has 92 worker’s homes with private gardens, again with the aim of compromising between architecture, nature, comfort and social life.
The garden city was designed by architects Hubert Marq and Edmon Serneels, who were able to create a picturesque estate with peaceful little streets where cars come second and the greenery is subtle!
Coquilhat Garden City or Foyer Etterbeekois Garden City
Haren-Paroisse Garden City
Built between 1926 and 1932, the Haren-Paroisse Garden City was designed by the famous architect Paul Hamesse in collaboration with his brothers. Well-known figures of Brussels Art Nouveau, the Hamesse brothers, led by Paul, were prolific, designing some 200 buildings in Brussels, including shops, homes and leisure facilities.
The Haren-Paroisse Garden City is located on the edge of the Brussels-Capital Region, just a stone's throw from the border with Flanders. Built opposite Haren's cemetery, this garden city is one of the smallest in the Brussels-Capital Region: it consists of only 20 dwellings, built at the time on a commission from the "Foyer Bruxellois", the forerunner of the modern-day "Logement Bruxellois", a public real estate company which today manages more than 4,000 social housing units. Today, Logement Bruxellois owns 14 of the 20 houses.
The small houses are made of brick, partially rendered, and have a cottage style, with a literal town-country feel. Comprehensive renovation was carried out in 2016-2017. If you visit the site, you'll see that this little garden city is in magnificent condition, with its original shine and its old-fashioned look, complete with brightly coloured woodwork!
Haren-Paroisse Garden City
Pins Noirs Garden City
Built in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Pins Noirs Garden City is the most famous of them all... it has nearly four hundred houses built between 1923 and 1936 on a triangular plot. The people behind it were urban planner Louis Van der Swaelmen and architects Vanderslagmolen and Verbiest, commissioned by Woluwe-Saint-Pierre’s Société Coopérative des Constructions et Habitations à Bon Marché (Cooperative Society for Affordable Buildings and Housing).
If you are looking to visit this garden city, you will no doubt see that it has several names that may cause confusion: Cité-jardin des Pins Noirs, Cité-jardin de Stockel, Cité-jardin Joli-Bois, Cité-jardin de la Forêt, Tir aux Pigeons or even Maroc because of its rural and isolated, almost deserted location at the time — no public transport, no water or electricity supply, etc.
The houses have lovely-sized gardens and the supreme luxury is the immense Sonian Forest just next door, where you can continue your walk!
Pins Noirs Garden City
Wannecouter Garden City or garden city of the Foyer Laekenois
The 43 houses of this small garden city were designed by architect Paul Robberechts on behalf of the Foyer Laekenois in 1922. The houses are in groups of 4 or 5, which gives them the appearance of large individual houses.
When you visit the site, you’ll notice the very pointed roofs and the very dominant reddish-orange colour of the buildings. They are often arranged around courtyards accessed through an archway linking two houses or through a passageway. The vegetation is still abundant!
The garden city was renovated after 2004.
Wannecouter Garden City or garden city of the Foyer Laekenois
Cité Moderne Garden City
After Le Logis and Floréal, the Cité Moderne is perhaps the most well-known of Brussels’ garden cities! It is easily recognisable! It was sponsored by the cooperative society of the same name and was built in a modernist style between 1922-1924, according to the plans of Victor Bourgeois, the leader of modernism in Belgium, and has been a protected site since 2000.
Bourgeois partnered with landscape architect Louis van der Swaelmen to create this housing complex, which comprises 274 dwellings — instead of the 500 originally planned — on a 6-hectare site in the western suburbs of Brussels.
A stylistic comparison with Kappelleveld Garden City, also consisting of numerous flat-roofed, cubic buildings, is unavoidable. In comparison to other garden cities, the Cité Moderne is not very green, with the white rendering of the buildings getting the upper hand over the vegetation. Moreover, a short walk through this garden city reveals that the buildings are in a fairly poor state...
Cité Moderne Garden City
Forest-Vert Garden City
Designed in 1922 by architect Henri Van Montfort following the competition launched by the Foyer Forestois, the garden city was inaugurated five years later. These houses, which are fairly typical of social housing, were in an advantageous location for workers at the time, as the nearby area saw an increase in factories in the early 20th century, particularly along Chaussée de Neerstalle.
When you visit, you’ll notice that the garden city is criss-crossed by numerous alleys leading to public spaces that place an emphasis on greenery and nature.
The Forest-Vert housing estate, repeatedly recognised as a “sustainable neighbourhood”, is taking a series of initiatives and putting in place actions relating to the environment (vegetable garden, composting, cleanliness, etc.) but also to promote togetherness and social ties.
Forest-Vert Garden City
