New Street

In the anniversary year 2018 - 950 years of Geraardsbergen - the Nieuwstraat in the city center of Geraardsbergen will become a woonerf (living street). As a result, the street will be set up as a pedestrian street. Flower pots and benches have already been placed, which obligate traffic to drive more slowly. The speed limit will be reduced to 20 km/h, allowing pedestrians to walk on the roadway. Parking in Nieuwstraat will be prohibited.

An old, fairly narrow street, already referred to as "Nustrate" since 1309. It runs down a steep slope and connects Vredestraat with Penitentenstraat. On the left side: a landscape-shaped alley, the Kleine Nieuwstraat, formerly known as "Borsesnijdersstraatje".

The streetscape is determined by facade walls from the 19th century, with older cores mainly indicated by wall anchors. A heterogeneous aspect due to differences in scale, varying cornice heights, and facings. The large number of preserved wooden shopfronts on a granite base, mainly with neoclassical influences, indicate the important commercial function in the 19th to early 20th century. A clear shift towards residential function occurred during the 20th century.

In this street, various residential buildings have been designated as architectural heritage by the Heritage Service, including:

Nieuwstraat 52:
Double house with Art Nouveau touches, three bays and three stories under a gabled roof with a central roof window, from the first quarter of the 20th century. Facade of white and green glazed brick with orange painted woodwork and metal; bordered by corner pilasters, made of granite on the ground floor, of brick on the upper floor, culminating in granite decorative vases. Opened ground floor and mezzanine: glazed walls with well-crafted woodwork between iron I-beams supported by granite cover stone of brick piers next to corner pilaster. Upper floor marked by a central wooden loggia; railing on metal consoles for the roof window. Arched upper windows. Facade termination by frieze and cornice on modillions.

Nieuwstraat 45:
Facade of two bays and three stories with faience cladding from the first quarter of the 20th century. Horizontal ordering through granite wall bands connecting the sills and lintels of the rectangular windows. Colorful floral tiles between the curved brackets of the cornice and on the corner pilasters of the neoclassical wooden shopfront on a granite base.

Nieuwstraat 44:
Row house with four bays and two stories under a curved gable roof (Flemish tiles), from the 18th century. Anchored facade with later cemented cladding with faux joints. Rectangular upper windows marked by natural stone sills, neoclassical right standards with rose and key stone with lion's head. Profiled cordon lists under a cornice on brackets. Recent shopfront.

Nieuwstraat 41 (now Restaurant 't Notariaat):
Manor house, double house type of four bays and three stories, from the second half of the 19th century. Cemented facade horizontally divided by imitation bands on the ground floor, shop list, wall bands with rose decoration, and cornice on brackets. Rectangular windows with granite sills and lintels on the ground floor, in a more elaborate frame with crowned frieze and drip list on the bel étage and in a molded frame with decorated keystone on the upper floor. Mirror with rose motif on the entablature. Neoclassical rectangular door set in a flat granite frame with a crowning drip list. Adjacent higher bay with the same cornice height as number 39. Facade with similar facade cementing marked by loggia on the bel étage. Arched upper windows in a molded frame with keystone. Cornice on modillions.

Nieuwstraat 10:
Remarkable corner house, double house type of two stories and three and four bays respectively covered with a mansard roof (artificial slates), dating from the last quarter of the 19th century and provided with an adapted shopfront in the first quarter of the 20th century. Ground floor with wooden shopfront on granite base delimited by a heavily corniced shop list from the plastered and painted upper floor. Facade bordered by composite corner pilasters, on the upper floor marked by a central risalit culminating in a roof window and delimited by composite columns that support an entablature and frieze with mask head. Central door window marked by balustrade and pedestals. Rectangular windows on the upper floor set in a molded frame with decorated keystone and marked by egg list frieze on the recessed balustrade. Facade termination by entablature with casement frieze and corniced cornice. Side facade of four bays with left bay worked out as a front facade. Three right bays with boarded ground floor windows and upper windows, see front facade.

Rodolpho