(Re)discover our city - Meta Brahms

11 Meta Brahms © Pierre Bertogne Photothèque VDL

(Re)discover our city - Meta Brahms

Think you know our capital well? Well, let's see about that! Some of the buildings that you walk past on a regular basis have a special story behind them. Dr Robert L. Philippart is a true expert on the subject and will guide you through the city to uncover these hidden stories, making you look at some of our symbolic buildings in a new way.

Meta-Brahms in Ville Haute

The Goeres Horlogerie Rolex shop has occupied the corner of Avenue de la Porte Neuve and Grand-Rue since 2019. Until 2017, this Groussgaasseck building was home to the Kass-Jentgen jewellery shop. Kass-Jentgen had replaced the Electro-Hauser IT shop, which had been there since 1988. From 1972 to that date, the premises had been occupied by a men's, women's and children's shoe shop called Mach 3. And from 1933 to 1972 the building hosted the women's hat and fashion shop Meta-Brahms.

The origins of Meta-Brahms date back to 1910 when it was founded by Pauline Ermann. In 1911, Meta-Brahms opened its doors on Place du Puits Rouge. As part of its marketing efforts in 1913, any customer who bought a hat also received a cinema ticket. While renovations were being carried out on its Place du Puits Rouge building, Meta-Brahms relocated to Rue de Chimay from 1922 to 1925 before returning to its original premises. In 1932, Maurice Blau and his wife Pauline Ermann commissioned the architect Nicolas Schmit-Noesen to design their new shop at the crossroads of Grand-Rue and Avenue de la Porte Neuve. Schmit-Noesen was known for his fascination with the International Style. In 1933, the purveyor of hats Meta-Brahms opened the doors of its new shop. The building had a metal frame created in the workshops of Luxembourg steel company ARBED (Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange — the united steelworks of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange). This modernist, flat-roofed building was considered by Association des Ingénieurs luxembourgeois (the association of Luxembourg engineers) as a significant technical feat.

In the run-up to the Second World War, the Blau couple were regular patrons of charities in Luxembourg and further afield. The Nazis invaded Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. The brand was subsequently forced to change its name to Hutpalast. Paul Blau is believed to have died at the Buchenwald concentration camp. From March 1945 until the end of 1949, the Luxembourg Red Cross ran a clothing distribution centre on the ground floor of the shop for families affected by the war and the flooding of the Moselle respectively. In 1950, Charles Brahms, son of the successful merchant Louis Brahms, took over the Meta-Brahms shop that his aunt had founded, selling bracelets, necklaces and wool and silk scarves. When the Nazis invaded Luxembourg, Charles Brahms had managed to leave the country and settle in the United States. He had joined the US Army and fought in the Pacific War. In 1965, under the aegis of Charles Brahms and his wife Carmen Salomon, the shop's retail space underwent extensive renovation work. The interior was illuminated by indirect lighting and painted white to help the hats stand out. Behind a golden curtain, a round and elegantly furnished space served as a discreet fitting room. Customers had access to a large assortment of women's hats kept in stock. During the 1960s, the brand was a regular participant in the capital's biggest fashion shows. From 1969, Meta-Brahms products were sold exclusively on the shop's second floor, with the Joli Silhouette beauty clinic taking over part of the building. Meta-Brahms permanently left the premises in 1972. When the Mach 3 shoe shop moved in 1972, the interior design, now aimed at a younger clientele, featured white and black leather benches, ceiling mirrors, postered walls and a plain red carpet, completely transforming the atmosphere of the shop. The sales assistants now dressed in sailors' attire. In 1988, the building's former travertine façade was hidden behind sheet metal cladding. Work undertaken in 2019 has since restored the façade to its original splendour.

Meta Brahms © Pierre Bertogne Photothèque VDL

Meta Brahms plan © Revue technique1933

Meta Brahms plan ©Revue technique1933
11 Meta Brahms © Pierre Bertogne Photothèque VDL

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