The Hôtel Winssinger fully embodies the Art Nouveau movement: its white stone façade, highlighted with blue stone, plays on a polychromy of soft shades; its bay breaks with classical order by introducing a convex movement to the composition. Its openings display a refined graphic approach: lowered-arch windows, cushion windows, or those highlighted with an archivolt, for which Victor Horta executed masterful detailing, paying particular attention to light. A bow window, framed by four cast-iron columns, opens onto the third floor; it is flanked by balconies with elegant ochre-painted wrought-iron railings adorned with vegetal arabesques.

This exquisite decoration continues inside, from the mezzanine windows featuring colored stained glass with floral motifs, to the coffered ceilings, and the marble mosaic floors.

The construction of the Hôtel Winssinger follows in the tradition of the prestigious houses commissioned from Victor Horta. After the Hôtel Tassel (1893), the Maison Autrique (1893), and the Hôtel Solvay (1894), the Belgian architect continued with this project to assert a style dominated by curves and the “whiplash” motif. In his works, metal becomes a truly architectural element, intertwining with stone and glass. The use of wood and wrought iron, the lowered arches, and mosaic compositions featuring stylized floral motifs make this hotel a showcase of the architect’s distinctive style.

Victor Horta (1861–1947) was a Belgian architect considered the leading figure of Art Nouveau in Belgium. He began his training in 1873 at the architecture section of the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, then moved to Paris in 1878, where he joined the studio of decorator-architect Jules Debuysson, experimenting with innovative construction materials such as steel and glass.

A devotee of iron, Horta elevated it to a prominent architectural element and developed revolutionary innovations in architecture. He implemented exposed metal structures that became decorative features in their own right, introduced open-plan layouts, and created bright living spaces illuminated by large glass roofs and light wells often adorned with stained glass.

In 1893, Victor Horta received his first private commission and completed the Hôtel Tassel, the first Art Nouveau building in Brussels, which applied a construction system inspired by Viollet-Le-Duc, followed by the Maison Autrique. These two projects launched his career, leading to commissions for townhouses and department stores. He also designed the Belgian Pavilion at the 1925 Paris International Decorative Arts Exhibition and the Tournai Museum of Fine Arts (1928).