Stoclet Palace

The Stoclet Palace (French: Palais Stoclet, Dutch: Stocletpaleis) is a mansion in Brussels, Belgium. It was designed by Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann for Belgian financier Adolphe Stoclet. Built between 1905 and 1911 in the Vienna Secession style, it is located on Avenue de Tervueren in the Woluwe-Saint-Pierre municipality of Brussels. Considered Hoffman's masterpiece, the residence is one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the twentieth century.The sumptuous dining and music rooms of the Stoclet Palace exemplified the theatrical spaces of the Gesamtkunstwerk, celebrating sight, sound, and taste in a symphony of sensual harmonies that paralleled the operas of Richard Wagner, from whom the concept originated. In his designs for the Stoclet Palace, Hoffmann was particularly attuned to fashion and to the Viennese identity of the new style of interior, even designing a dress for Madame Stoclet so that she would not clash with her living room decor as she had while wearing a French Paul Poiret gown.The mansion is still occupied by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. The building has received protected status by the Monuments and Sites Directorate of the Brussels-Capital Region, and it was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2009.