Le Berger « I Love Belgium

17
Feb
2012

Le Berger

The I Love Belgium team spent its Valentine night in a very special place. We’ve made you excited on our Facebook page and Twitter about it and here’s our report. Built in 1935 as a hotel de rendez-vous, the Hôtel Le Berger in the rue du Berger in Brussels is the talk of the town.Decorated in art deco style, in an intimate atmosphere, the hotel retained all of its décor up to the time it closed on 31 December 2009 to commence renovation. It had been run with quiet professionalism over a period of forty years by Freddy Martens, who is the living memory of the property and has loads of juicy stories we suppose…

The spirit of the renovation was to retain as many of the typical elements as possible in order to reconstitute the almost film-like atmosphere of the 1930s decoration. The characteristics of a hôtel de rendez-vous are being preserved: double lifts so that guests do not inadvertently run into each other, open bathrooms, suggestive decoration, mirrors on the edge of the bath, etc. Each room bears a woman’s name that evokes the period: Chloé, Matilde, Elodie, Lola, Camille, Manon, Antoinette, Ambre, Blanche and Jeanne,…

The decoration of the rooms reflects the tastes of bourgeois apartments in the 1930s. During that period, people liked rooms that were intimate, tasteful and colourful, that had reassuring wainscoting and were warmed up by thick and lively wallpaper fabrics in intricate and rich patterns. The wallpaper was bought at Priem in Ghent, a leading specialist in the subject. Priem, a wallpaper shop in Ghent, has been existing for over 81 years. All of the rooms, including the ceilings, which was the fashion during the 1920s and 1930s, have been recovered.

So if you’re looking for a hotel experience in a unique setting, you’re at the right place in Le Berger. Their bar and restaurant serve a fine cocktail and a tasty burger but don’t let that hold you back to go outside and discover the neighbourhood, you never know who’d you run into to take back to your hotel…

ILOVEBELGIUM