Casino Middelkerke

1890: sale to Charles Smedt, a Brussels restaurateur, of a large plot enclosed between the Zeedijk (north), the J. Van Hinsberghstraat (east), the Leopoldlaan (south) and the Parijsstraat (west, at the later Epernayplein) under the explicit condition to establish a 'Kursaal-Hotel' within three years. 1891: first wooden casino designed by architect A. Dumont (Brussels). 1896: the kursaal burns down. 1898: reconstruction as a wooden structure. After the failure of plans for a new larger and more profitable casino - moved twelve meters towards the sea to create a panorama - through the establishment of a corporation, the owner wants to sell the building and the land in lots around 1908. However, the municipal government purchases the building in 1908-1909; leasing to the highest bidding operator. 1910: architectural competition for the construction of a new casino. 1914: construction of a new Kursaal designed by architect G. Hobé (Brussels), on a roughly 1900 constructed protruding breakwater. Second World War: fires in 1942 and 1944, the latter during the German evacuation. 1946: modernist plan for a new casino designed by architects L. Van Wallendaal, A. Vereecke (Middelkerke) and D. François (Middelkerke) not executed. 1953-1954: final reconstruction designed by A. Vereecke. Renovation designed by architect Van Crombrugghe in 1978, redesign by Restyling Group in 1998.

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