Hotel Hannon, Brussels

It seems as though everywhere you look in Brussels there are Art Nouveau buildings - you can even buy a map to help you navigate around all the best-known ones. Current Husband and I went to visit the Horta Museum (well worth an hour), and then took a stroll through the Saint-Gilles area to see what else we could find.

This astonishing confection of disparate elements was designed for the engineer and artist Edward Hannon by his friend Jules Brunfaut in 1903 - it looks as though Brunfaut was equally taken with Gaudi and Tiffany, and couldn't see any reason not to mash them together in one building. It was occupied by the family until the 60s, then fell derelict and was nearly demolished; now it's a photography gallery.

I find myself wondering if the majority of Bruxellois/es were on board with this movement at the turn of the C20th, or if they shook their heads in mystification as one weird building after another went up. Whatever, they're obviously proud of them now, so that's all good.