Maison Sterner: the glassmaker’s studio under the roof

The house was first that of Victor Marchal, a bailiff and painting enthusiast. In 1893, he had a bourgeois residence built, rather restrained, facing one street. Nine years later, he had it extended through the whole block to the neighboring street, and the architect Ernest Delune gave it a second façade, an Art Nouveau one this time. One property, two doors, almost two characters.

On this side, nothing lines up with the neighbors. The door sits within a large stone circle. A tall glass window rises along the wall and ends in a circle too. At the very top, the studio juts out from the façade like a glass cabin.

Joining two buildings was not enough: their levels also had to be connected. The staircase takes care of that. Its landings lead from the old house to the new one, and a large stained-glass window brings it daylight in the middle of the built-up depth.

The stained glass mixes plant motifs with a strict geometry that recalls Viennese Art Nouveau. Sterner was of Austrian origin.

The 20th century battered the building as a whole. Part of the basement became a garage, partitions cut up the rooms, pieces of the staircase disappeared and, with them, the views from one floor to the next.

The house has been listed since 2003. A restoration followed, to give the staircase and the two façades their coherence back.