The story
Take a moment to listen to the rhythm of your footsteps on this pavement. Maybe a tram is rattling past you right now, its bells cutting through the air as it glides down the center of the road. You are walking along a grand artery of northern Brussels, a space that feels wide and intentional, designed for a city that was once determined to prove it belonged among the great capitals of the world.
As you look at the street signs, you see two names that represent the same person: Boulevard de Smet de Naeyer and de Smet de Naeyerlaan. You might wonder who this man was to deserve such a vast stretch of the city. Paul de Smet de Naeyer was not a revolutionary or a poet. He was a man of numbers, a financier, and a politician who lived from 1843 to 1913. Born into a wealthy industrial family in Ghent, he made his mark in the worlds of cotton and banking before entering the high-stakes theater of Belgian politics.
He served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, or Head of Cabinet as it was then called, for two significant periods at the turn of the twentieth century. He was a leading figure in the Catholic Party and, perhaps most importantly for the street you are walking on, he was a trusted advisor to King Leopold II. At that time, the King was obsessed with transforming Brussels into a city of sweeping vistas and monumental parks. De Smet de Naeyer was the man who often found the means to fund these grand visions.
While the exact date this specific boulevard received his name is a detail tucked away in old municipal ledgers, the street itself is a product of that era of rapid expansion. It was built to connect the area around the Royal Estate of Laeken with the growing neighborhoods of Jette. When you look around, you can see that legacy in the sheer scale of the road. It isn't just a path for cars; it is a landscaped corridor.
Today, the boulevard serves as a vital link between the greenery of the Royal colonial gardens and the urban pulse of the city. It is home to long rows of tall trees and the tracks for Trams 7 and 19, which act as the heartbeat of the neighborhood. The architecture here is a mix, ranging from sturdy, brick bourgeois houses to modern apartment blocks, all facing this wide expanse that still feels like a gateway to the palace grounds.
Before you continue your walk, take a closer look at the trees lining the tram tracks. Even in the middle of a busy city, they create a sort of cathedral of leaves overhead. Notice how the light filters through them onto the tracks, and imagine the horse-drawn carriages that would have been the only sound here when Paul de Smet de Naeyer’s name was first etched into the stone.