The Brasseries Atlas site, located in the heart of Anderlecht, is a reminiscent testimony of a flourishing industrial period in Brussels at the beginning of the 20th century.
The oldest iconographic source for the site dates from the mid-16th century when Jacobus van Deventer mapped Brussels between 1555 and 1565. Near the site, three ponds are visible on the map. These ponds were fed by the Broekbeek, a branch of the Kleine Zenne.
Between 1909 and 1911, François Schelfaut bought the plot of the former ponds with the aim of founding the new Saint-Guidon brewery, a steam-powered Geuze brewery. A first construction proposal for this project was submitted on November 23, 1911 and approved on April 5, 1912. At the request of owner F. Schelfaut, architect Jules Installé designed a complex that included a brewery building, a workshop, a machine room and a smaller stand-alone building for the generators. The complex was planted in the center of the plot. In 1919, another construction proposal was submitted, this time for the expansion of the horse stables, which were an essential link for the brewing process at this time.
After a merge in 1925, the site, now called ‘Les Grandes Brasseries Atlas S.A.’ was ready for an expansion. François Van Steenberge, the new land and company owner, wanted to show off his new brewery and ordered a new towering building from architect Jules Installé,
The Nathan tower was constructed in 1926 in the southernmost corner of the plot, externalizing the modernization of the brewery. Architect Installé used the same modern building materials and techniques as for the workshop : a skeletal structure consisting of (reinforced) concrete beams,columns and floors and outer walls filled with brick masonry. The facades were finished in Art Deco style, the new architectural style that was very popular with the wealthy bourgeoisie in the 20th century. The art-déco tower is a true eye- catcher on the site and visible from almost the entire canal zone in Curegem.
In a final phase, the workshops were added along the Naaldstraat side, and in 1949 the brewery was sold to the Haacht brewery.
