The building of the École moyenne A, in Art deco style, took place from 1923 to 1927 between the Church of Saints-Jean-et-Étienne-aux-Minimes and the Palace of Justice, following plans of architect François Malfait.

The ancient convent of the Minimes, built on the house of Renaissance anatomist Andreas Vesalius, had been decommissioned in 1790, and served successively as a deposit of begging in 1801, a tobacco factory in 1813, a lithography workshop in 1815, a military hospital and finally a women's prison before being destroyed in 1920.

The Athénée Robert Catteau is one of Belgium's last schools where pupils have to present an end-of-studies work (Travail de fin d'études), in order to get their diploma.

In 2015, the athenaeum is selected and then, in 2016, ends up in the final stage of the Cansat project of the European Space Agency with its team SCADA 378, having launched a rocket which contains a satellite to collect atmospheric information from 't Harde military base in the Netherlands.

In 2015, Alessandro Telo, who graduated the previous year, undergoes a small media wave for his ability to master 28 languages.