The engineer Édouard Hannon (1853-1931) joined the Belgian company Solvay in 1876 as their representative at the soldering factory in Dombasle, near Nancy (in the Lorraine region of France), where he met his future wife. After being appointed manager in 1883, he had a modern mansion built on Avenue de la Jonction in Brussels in 1902, and entrusted the project management to his friend the architect Jules Brunfaut (1852-1942). Émile Gallé (1846-1904) designed the living room, dining room and bedroom furniture and a number of chandeliers and wall and ceiling lights.