The Art Nouveau architects' preference for the curvilinear is especially evident in the Brussels buildings of Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta.

Van de Velde in 1896 had completed his house (Bloemenwerf House) in suburban Uccle, which shows the influence of English architecture; flowing and waving lines suggestive of plant motifs predominate.

An alumnus of les Vingt, van de Velde, now thirty-five, had been responsible for bringing the Art Nouveau style to Paris in 1896 by designing furniture and interiors for the Paris art galleries of Samuel Bing.