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Document Details : Title: Het café als plaats delict Subtitle: Caféinterieurs in Oost-Vlaanderen bekeken aan de hand van assisenzaken (1932-1937) Author(s): STERCKX, Marjan Journal: Tijdschrift voor Interieurgeschiedenis en Design Volume: 44 Date: 2022 Pages: 121-147 DOI: 10.2143/GBI.44.0.3291080 Abstract : This article offers an impetus to the study of pub interiors in (East) Flanders during the interwar period through the approach of assize files, in particular through a close reading of the interior photographs and floor plans contained therein. Despite the morbid character of this unusual type of source, it offers a rare insight into the use of space, utilities, interior decoration and loose furnishings for a diversity of ‘ordinary’ pubs in (East) Flanders. The case study can thus illuminate the potential of court records for such and similar historical interior research. Despite the small sample of ten cafés in East Flanders, mapped and pictured in the 1930s, some initial conclusions can be drawn. The small to medium-sized pubs studied were predominantly housed in corner buildings or terraced houses, designed or adapted for that function. They were closely interconnected with the private rooms of the pub tenants, who used the same entrance, kitchen, corridor and toilet – the latter always accessible via the courtyard. With the exception of a newly built café, most of the buildings were older. Hand pumps and coal stoves suggest that connections to running water and gas were not available everywhere. Electricity was available and white-glass art deco lampshades were evidently popular in cafés. Without exception, there were tiled floors, from plain grey to colourful imitation mosaic tiles. The partitioned and wallpapered walls were colourful, quite daring and predominantly dark, especially with dark wood panelling in which benches were often incorporated – an older custom that was not renounced even by modernists in the 1930s. Narrow, rectangular, dark-wood tables without tablecloths lined the walls. The surrounding chairs offer a nice sample of various types of chairs for cafés, mostly of Belgian manufacture, including many models in bent wood. These were still recommended for modernist cafés in the 1930s. A sitting area with wicker chairs around a barrel table also proved popular. The invariably dark wooden bars were frequently equipped with a tap, railing and glass cabinet, and behind them were wall shelves, mirrors, enamelled advertising boards, framed photographs and posters. Entertainment was provided by pool tables, an early pinball, playing cards and musical instruments. The photos emphasise the continuity of the brown pubs, which have a long tradition in Belgium, but also contain ‘modern’ elements that made them pleasant places to be. |
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