Ancien hotel Britannique - Spa

This palace, built in the first years of the 20th century (1903-1905) , is the successor of a hotel that has existed since the second half of the 17th century and has been converted many times into a luxury establishment.

Despite numerous improvements to the surroundings (cloaking a stream, creating gardens and outbuildings), the hotel was eventually demolished to make way for a new building. World War I left the project unfinished, with a wing never built. In 1918, the hotel housed the German Imperial Headquarters in Spa. Set on a slope, the three-story building makes extensive use of light-colored brick and stone under a high two-story mansard roof . The facades facing the street, interrupted by bands of stone, are enlivened by numerous iron balconies and two imposing arched windows , while those facing the garden are wider with bays and interrupted by arched windows or wooden balconies.

The school had a prosperous period between the wars before being converted into a boys' boarding school in 1958 .

Two historical events took place in the current British Hotel or its predecessor: the reconciliation between the Belgian and Dutch royal couple in 1883 and the abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II in November 1918.

Willem Vandenameele