THE KESSELS FONDS

In 1987 the Archives d’Architecture Moderne (AAM) acquired 7,370 silver gelatine-bromide negatives on glass plate conserved in their original box. In 1989 a further 460 monochrome negatives on glass plate and plastic film and colour negatives on plastic film were added. In 1991 and 1992 the collection was further expanded with the acquisition of original prints and publications.

A few years earlier, in 1981, the Institut supérieur d'Architecture de l’Etat – La Cambre acquired almost 650 monochrome negatives on glass plate and period prints including around 40 large format prints relating to the school of architecture.

In April 1987 the AAM undertook an initial identification of the 7,830 negatives on the basis of Willy Kessels' order book and by studying the journals to which the photographer contributed his work (La Revue Documentaire, Bâtir, Clarté, l’Emulation).

In 2016, an initial digitisation of 5,000 negatives was undertaken thanks to funding from the Courtin-Bouché Fonds through the intermediary of the King Baudouin Foundation. The digital files respect the numbering of Willy Kessels' original boxes in order to preserve the correspondence between the original negative and its digital file. Also, all the negatives will be stored under appropriate conditions while respecting the same logic in order to facilitate the work of the researchers.

In 2017 a second stage in identifying the negatives on the basis of the work undertaken between 1987 and 1990 was undertaken. That same year, the 2,830 remaining negatives as well as the 144 negatives on glass plate belonging to the ULB's Architecture Archives and Library and conserved at the CIVA were also digitized with funding from the Cultural Heritage Directorate of the Brussels-Capital Region.

In 2017 and 2018, seven pupils specializing in "Archives" at the Faculty of Architecture at the ULB's La Cambre-Horta worked on identifying some 50 images.

In December 2018 all 7,974 photographs were listed and classified per category (domestic architecture; industry and craftsmanship; commercial architecture and services; etc.) and sub-category (detached house; terraced house; garden city; etc.)

The database today makes available a selection from these categories amounting to 4,481 photographs in all, most of which are identified. The digital files available online are low definition. High quality files are available on request.