The marque with the “double chevron” has two reasons to celebrate this year: the birth of the first Citroën now 9 decades ago, and its magnificent building at the Place de l’Yser, an architectural landmark in Brussels, which is now three quarters of a century old. We took a closer look at the building and its cars here, and let you share with what we found…

Hans Knol ten Bensel

As if it was 75 years ago, two pre-war Citroëns standing in the main garage entrance hall, which as lovingly been kept in its original state…

A revolutionary building…

The building at the Place de l’Yser was built by architect Alexis Dumont, who also built amongst others the rector building of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the futuristic Shell building near Cantersteen, in the centre of Brussels, and the Ravenstein Gallery. The works were executed by the firm Blaton-Aubert. Needless to say that the construction firm Blaton exists until this day and can look back on a successful 150 year history.

Not only the Citroën cars, also the women remain eternally young!  

During the war, the building was used by the German army, and until 1946 by the British and allied forces. They left the building in a sorry state, tanks had completely destroyed the beautiful marble floor of the massive showroom. The building was also damaged through bombing and the blowing up of the nearby Scaintelette bridge.

The garage entrance hall was revolutionary light for its day…

The building reopened its doors only in 1947. A decade later, the World Exhibition was held in Brussels, and on the roof of the building … a helicopter landing site was built, which stayed in use until 1962. Helicopters were used for quick flights to Paris and could also bring the visitors in minutes from the city centre to the Heysel exhibition grounds for the ’58 World Expo.  

In 1959, the war damage on the building was completely repaired and an internal 5 storey steel structure was built inside the main hall to house more cars.

Looking at the styling of the building, it is completely typical of the functional logic of industrial architecture between the two world wars. Iron, steel and glass are the only building materials, decoration is totally absent. The grand scale of the building and its rigorous concept make it a very expressive building, used frequently in publicity material of Citroën.

The huge showroom of 17 by 76 meters was originally 25 meters high, and evoked with its angular cocoon or comet shape the avant-garde technical properties of its cars, beginning in 1934 with the legendary “Traction”.

The showroom has a beautifully curved angle...

The showroom is connected by a central,  elevated  “street” in steel, which was not less than 12 meters large, to the actual main garage/service building, which is an impressive 102 by 130 meters.

The building was revamped completely at the end of 2005, painted white and fitted with spots shining on the steel pillars of the building, emphasizing the structure of the building and the huge size of the showroom…

A traction standing in the workshop, just as 75 years ago…

On October 4^th, a parade of Citroëns celebrated the 75^th anniversary of the building, and also the 9 decades of the marque.  The assembled in the huge hall of the building inside, only then to make a festive tour in the Brussels streets.

It was quite an extraordinary event, with many participants not only remembering the cars, but also the house where they were sold, repaired and serviced…

Hans Knol ten Bensel

Photographers notes: the images were shot with the Nikoin D40, using 400 and 800 asa settings using existing light conditions. Slight contrast and color corrections were necessary in photoshop, but care was taken already not to shoot the images against the sun or light source.