Joseph Diongre, the architect of Molenbeek

During the Art deco and modernist period, public buildings and churches are built. Several architects join this current as Joseph Diongre.

Living in Uccle, Joseph Diongre attends the Royal Academy of Arts of Brussels and does his internship in Paris with the architect Emile Duray. At first, Joseph Diongre become the editor-in-chief of the architectural magazine “L’Emulation” then he browses the Netherlands and become the official architect of the municipality of Molenbeek. In his honour, a street was named after him in Brussels (Street Joseph Diongre).

Halfway between the modernism and the Art deco, he is the specialist of public orders. Son
Its work is eclectic up to the World War I then it quickly turns to the social housing.

Progressively, “blocks” of apartments are built almost everywhere. These constructions respond to a precise need to popular and public houses. In 1925, Diongre imagines an ensemble of social housing in Brussels. For example, the Home St-Gillois and the Court Saint-Lazarre which count 180 public houses.

Through its art, he puts forward the beauty and the purity of the forms. His most recent and major work is the seat of the National Institute of Broadcasting situated on the place Flagey (Ixelles). He is also the author of the community house of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and the St-Jean-Baptiste church in Molenbeek (classified as “historic monument” since 1984). A major artist who left his mark on Brussels!