The architect was Paul Hankar, but Ciamberlani himself provided the designs for the large allegorical sgraffito decoration on the façade.

Paul Hankar received the commission to design the building from the mother of the symbolist painter Albert Ciamberlani, soon after having finished a project for a private residence for his friend Henri Renkin in 1897.

[5][6] Hankar initially struggled with finding a solution for the unusually wide façade (12 metres (39 ft)).

[4][8] The top of the façade is dominated by the sgraffito decoration designed by Ciamberlani and executed by Adolphe Crespin [fr].

The central composition depicts in allegorical form the different stages of life, under the canopy of a large pear tree.

[2] He notes that it lacks what he calls the "Gothic" element of Louis XV style, "which artists of the time abused, both in Brussels and Nancy".

[2] In the official list of architectural heritage of Brussels it is described more succinctly as an "exceptional private house in the geometrical Art Nouveau style.