A Four-Bedroom Townhouse in Central Antwerp
$1.9 MILLION (1.56 MILLION EUROS)
Designed by the Belgian architects Alfred Portielje and Jan De Braey in 1926, this four-bedroom Beaux-Arts mansion in Central Antwerp, Belgium, was originally part of Résidence Sans Souci , a luxury apartment complex next door.
Sans Souci’s owners sold off the mansion in 2007 to its current owners, a Dutch couple. The wife, a now-retired interior designer, took a whimsical approach to redecorating the four-story, 4,760-square-foot home. “She changed the walls every five years so she wouldn’t get bored,” said Matthias Vertommen of Sotheby’s International Realty Belgium, the listing agent. “Because of her background, the home has also been immaculately maintained.”
A grand marble-accented foyer makes up the home’s entire first level. “Without a ground floor, the home wouldn’t be easy for a family with small kids, but the owners fell in love with the entrance hall,” Mr. Vertommen said. “It’s quite big, with original mosaic tile floors, high ceilings and a huge wooden staircase.” Most recently, the owners painted the foyer walls black and white, coating the staircase in glossy black to match. Designed by the Belgian architects Alfred Portielje and Jan De Braey in 1926, the four-story house was originally part of Résidence Sans Souci, a luxury apartment complex next door. Sans Souci’s owners sold off the mansion in 2007 to its current owners. Credit…Antwerp Sotheby’s International Realty The staircase ascends to living spaces on the second floor. A long, loft-like living room boasts original herringbone parquet floors illuminated by floor-to-ceiling windows. In the room’s current color scheme, vertical zebra stripes contrast with plush divans in hot pink and tangerine. A decorative fireplace, painted black, serves as an étagère. (The home’s furnishings are not included in the sale.)
The living room opens to a dining room, where a peek-a-boo window overlooks the home’s second staircase. The dining room connects to a sleek, narrow kitchen, recently updated and outfitted in black, with a granite-topped sink and diamond-patterned tiles on the floors. One of the home’s two terraces is accessible through a walkout from the kitchen. At about 1,300 square feet, the terrace “faces the back of the house, overlooks trees, and feels completely private,” Mr. Vertommen said. The second floor also features a library and TV room brightened by a wall of windows.
One floor up, the main bedroom suite has a dressing room with custom closets, in glossy black, taking up an entire wall. The windowed bathroom, in brick-like white tile, includes a standalone shower and tub.
A second bedroom has an en suite bath with a walkout to the home’s second terrace, which measures about 805 square feet. On the home’s top floor, the owners converted a bedroom to an office; a finished attic could become a fourth bedroom, Mr. Vertommen said.
The house, which includes a deeded parking spot in a private lot behind the building, is steps from Harmonie Park, a four-acre green space distinguished by its lute-shaped monument to the 19th-century Belgian composer Peter Benoit. “It’s an […]
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