"The Coudenberg Hotels are part of the vast architectural ensemble in the neo-classical style of the Place Royale in Brussels, built between 1775 and 1782 by the French architects Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré and Barnabé Guimard during the time of the Austrian Netherlands.
The old Coudenberg hotels are located on either side of the Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg cathedral, whose silhouette dominates the Place Royale to the east. More specifically, they occupy numbers 5-6 and 7-8 of the Place Royale.
The Austrian authorities wanted to build on the site of the former Coudenberg Palace, which burned down in 1731, a monumental square inspired by French models such as Place Stanislas in Nancy (1755) and Place Royale in Reims (1759)1.
The project was approved in 1774 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who authorized the demolition of the palace. In 1776, the project became a monumental urban plan which was entrusted to the French architects Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré, who designed the basic project, and Barnabé Guimard, who carried out the detailed plans.
Because of the high costs, the government appealed to Coudenberg Abbey and Grimbergen Abbey, to certain associations such as the Brewers' Corporation and the Imperial and Royal Netherlands Lottery, as well as to individuals such as the count of Spangen, the countess of Templeuve and the wine merchant Philippe de Proft.
The Coudenberg Hotels have facades coated and painted in white like all the pavilions of the Place Royale as well as most of the neoclassical buildings designed by Guimard around the Parc de Bruxelles (Hotel Errera, Hotel de Ligne, Hotel Empain, the "Lambermont" ...).
This results from the government edict of 1781 which ordered that the brick facades of all the pavilions on the Place Royale be coated.
The Hôtels de Coudenberg are linked to the buildings located on their left (Hôtel de Belle-Vue, at n°9) and on their right (Hôtel de Templeuve, at n°4) by two porticoes in the purest neoclassical style, which correspond to the two porticoes located at the western corners of the Place Royale."