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Night shot of the main terraces from the race track. The white tower on the right is where
officials were located |
This post shows the photos of the Hippodrome de Boitsfort in August 2013. Tom, Ningmeng and myself figured it was worth paying a visit this piece of Brussels history.
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| Main terraces viewed from the top of the officials tower |
Located on the northern edge of the
Sonian Forest and in the south of Brussels, the hippodrome was built in 1875 (1) and the only one of its kind in the Brussels region.
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| Building where horses were weighted |
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The grasses have been used by the
Brussels Golf Club since the late 80s
Photo taken from the terraces |
Despite what its name says, the hippodrome is not located in Boitsfort but is actually in Uccle, for unknown reasons.
The track is fairly small and spectators could therefore easily follow the entire race. This feature was however not adapted to all horses since they were racing clockwise and curves were fairly steep.
Originally property of the '
Société d'Encouragement des races de chevaux et le développement des courses en Belgique', the non-profit organisation was liquidated in 1995 and the site became property of the Brussels Region.
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| The officials tower (left) and main terraces (right) |
The liquidator obviously had decent skills in 'monkey business' and he started renting the premises without authorisation. Although he had one to rent the grasses to the golf club, he also apparently rented the place to a company in the restaurant industry for a ridiculously low rent (2).
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What once was 'La Mezzanine', a posh disco where Thursday
night parties were held. |
Most posh inhabitants of Brussles will remember the Thursday night parties @ 'La Mezzanine'. This was once of the two 'place-to-be' with the 'Jeux d'hiver' on Thursday nights.
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| The abandoned rooms of the disco 'La Mezzanine' |
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| Inside 'La Mezzanine' |
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| Stairs to the roof |
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| The guardrail of the roof, sign of a prosperous past |
One of the interesting features of this site is that it has been very little modified during its life as a hippodrome.
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A strange metallic room hanging
from the side of the building |
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Second staircase going directly to the
roof (left) and strange metallic rooms
hanging on the side of the building (right) |
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A dent in the front wall, seen from a broken window
of the staircase |
As of today, nobody knows what will become of this wonderful place in Brussels. Abandonned for almost 20 years, it is the city's ambition to make a recreational site for families but no convincing project has been made so far (3).
Note: You can view all my photos of the Hippodrome de Boitsfort in
this gallery.
Sources:
- Wikipdia - Hippodrome de Boitsfort (in French)
- La Libre - L'incroyable imbroglio de l'hippodrome de Boitsfort (in French)
- RTBF - Bruxelles: que va devenir l'Hippodrome de Boitsfort ? (in French)
