Cauchie House

This guide to the Cauchie House in Brussels follows decorator Paul Cauchie, who built the narrow facade in nineteen oh five as a working advertisement for his sgraffito technique, scratching layers of colored plaster into friezes of robed women and symbols of the arts. It traces his marriage that same year to fellow artist Lina Voet, who turned the house into her own studio, and the decades after when the facade faded even once officials granted it protected status. Look for the motto worked into the sgraffito above the door: by us, for us.