Town hall, located on the corner with Stationsstraat, 'renovated and rebuilt' in 1863 after a design by architect Edmond Serrure (municipal architect of Sint-Niklaas) on the site of the then dilapidated 'Landhuis' of 1652.
After all, the city council decided in a council meeting of 28 June 1862 that the building had become dilapidated. The designs of architect Kompus (Antwerp) were considered too expensive and therefore not accepted. The municipality took out a loan of 40,000 francs, authorized by Royal Decree of December 5, 1862. The building was realized under Mayor J. Van Raemdonck. In 1972, the building was expanded at the rear and the old volume renovated.
Description
Spacious two-storey building with basement and plastered and painted cornice of five bays under a mansard hipped roof. Slightly protruding corner dams and three central bays topped by a triangular pediment with an ornamental sphere and a coat of arms wreathed in laurel branches in the arch field. Bluestone facade-wide facade with two staircases on which cast-iron lanterns; arched arcade in front of the cellar; wrought iron parapet. First storey with bossage and arched doors and windows with coat of arms as pseudo keystone. Arched upper windows in banded surround with ears, decorated keystone, puncture sills on consoles, and panel on the parapet; rectangular balcony on the central bay. Façade terminated on articulated architrave, frieze with casements and toothed and cornice cornice on consoles (only below the pediment). Left side facade of three bays identical to front facade, but simpler. In the pediment a coat of arms with an image of Saint Martin. Historical joinery was partly preserved.
Internally, the building has already been thoroughly renovated. The basement, with its vaulted central corridor and adjoining cellars, has been well preserved. Interior joinery was also preserved here. The council chamber and staircase have been preserved on the first floor. The council chamber, which was merged with an adjacent room during a recent renovation, originally had a symmetrical structure with a central red marble mantelpiece, flanked in the corners by two chamfered corners with niches and two double entrance doors. The ceiling was finished with stucco moldings. A beautiful, originally gas-powered chandelier hangs centrally. The room above the council chamber has the same stucco. The stairwell houses a beautiful wooden English staircase.
The exterior and the preserved parts of the interior exude eclecticism in a classical sense. Typologically it is a prestigious civic town hall.
Source: Protection file DO002329 (2010) Date: 2010 The text is made available by: Agency for Real Estate Heritage (AOE)
Translated by Google •
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