In Brussels you can still find typical 1900s houses (the so called maisons bruxelloises) that have the luck of having been untouched for the previous six or seven decades.

I love the charm of old houses so I consider this to be a lucky situation because although it implies doing a lot of work, all the beauty is still there, hidden under layers of carpets, ugly paint and dust.

Usually all the technical installations will have to be redone from scratch: sometimes there is no heating, only gas convectors (which means that gas pipes run through the house to reach every room!), the electricity installation can date of the thirties with nice-but-non-compliant Bakelite plugs, and all the sanitary pipes are made of lead. Redoing everything is of course expensive, but it allows you to be compliant to health and safety regulations and to plan the new installations to fit your needs.

What you will also find is that high moulded ceilings will have been preserved, that the fin-de-siècle cement tiles should still be in the hallway, that fire places are still in place (and without the convectors will look beautiful again!) and that underneath the ugly linoleum flooring or carpet or paint you would find the old-untouched wooden boards, wooden staircase and wooden work.

If you, like me are fascinated by the fin-de-siècle features of old Belgian houses and you’re on a house search, try to look beyond the appearance and search for original elements that are preserved. You can then add some modern touches with furniture and obtain a great looking mix of old and new.