Category:

Beauty and Design

Description:

Bernardo Lorena Ponte @blorenaponte Location: "Den Bell Tower" in Antwerp. The Den Bell Tower used to house the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company in the late 19 century. After that it housed many other communication companies and finally it has been acquired by the municipality serving multiple purposes nowadays (meeting center and offices). The building has suffered many transformations but the main tower, its "piece de resistance", has been there all the way. This tower is served by these beautiful stairs that look completely different when observed top to bottom or bottom up. Concrete has been molded perfectly under the "form follows function" principle has the stairs serve the flow of people going up and down and at the same time going in and exiting every level of the building. The complementary railings, bannisters, painting and floor are still the original, awarding a "Art Deco" style. When living in Belgium, a couple of years ago, I did some investigation on some of its architectural gems and this one was in the top ten. Later, after some investigation I found that it was open to the public. I jumped in the car and drove to Antwerp just for some photos. When I got there the building was going under renovation but luckily only outside. I took my time and a beautiful set of photos from which this is my favorite one.