Hôtel Tassel

This guide to Hotel Tassel in Brussels centers on 1892, when a geometry professor named Emile Tassel hired a largely unproven young architect, Victor Horta, to design his home. It follows Horta's break from the strict Beaux-Arts training he'd learned, and the single iron column at the heart of the house that carries both structure and decoration. You'll hear why architects still argue over which building truly started Art Nouveau, and how quickly that curling line turned up in Paris and Barcelona. Stand at the foot of the stair before you decide what you think started here.