From the Foreword: "This book...is intended to focus the reader's attention on the wealth and beauty of the part of our [Belgian] heritage that is under threat today and often thoughtlessly destroyed. We may not always be aware that by demolishing 19th-century buildings we are also blotting out the surviving traces of a certain craftsmanship that belongs to all trades (painters, decorators, cabinet-makers, casters, stonecutters...). Architects relied on them not only for the completion of prestigious public edifices (both civil and religious), but also, be it on a smaller scale, for building private houses... A significant part of this book is dedicated to stylistic study and analysis. The basis for this has been the observation of the composition and decoration of the facade, without losing sight of the layout and interior decoration of the buildings themselves. We cannot claim to have been exhaustive, though we hope our work will present the reader with a number of keys... Photography naturally plays a major role in a work of this kind. Jacques Evrard and Christine Bastin present us with a rigorous yet sensitive vision that brings to the fore the beauty of the structures, the decorative virtuosity, and the characteristic atmosphere of the 19th-century interior."