Postcard Restaurant Euterpia - Berchem-Antwerp, Cogels-Osylei, ca. 1920-1940

Promotional card in postcard format for Restaurant Euterpia, located at Generaal Capiaumontstraat 2 near the Cogels-Osylei in Berchem-Antwerp. The front shows the eclectic neoclassical building of the restaurant — an imposing corner building with turret, round-arched windows and rich facade ornamentation. The reverse functions as a business card with address, opening hours (daily 18.30 to 23.00, closed on Mondays) and telephone number (36.83.56). The card is addressed to La Rôtisserie Ardennaise, Boulevard Émile Jacqmain in Brussels — probably sent as business relations material between two restaurants.

The Cogels-Osylei in Berchem is regarded as one of the finest Art Nouveau avenues in Belgium, lined with eclectic and Jugendstil villas from the late nineteenth century. Restaurant Euterpia was in its time a well-known Antwerp establishment, named after Euterpe, the muse of music — a name popular in the hospitality world of the Belle Époque. The card shows signs of use with folds and staining; the telephone number and opening hours give a concrete picture of the daily operation of a Belgian city restaurant in the first half of the twentieth century.