From the Belgian Pavilion to the Belgian Friendship Building: A Remnant of New York’s 1939 World’s Fair

by Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin

The Belgian Pavilion at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, designed by Victor Bourgeois, Léon Stynen, and Henry van de Velde, showcased modern Belgian architecture and Congo-made art, and after Germany’s 1940 invasion became a site of solidarity with occupied Belgium. Celebrated for its carillon, diamond displays, and durable Belgian materials, it proved too costly to dismantle. Civil servant Jan-Albert Goris arranged to “gift” it to an American institution, leading to its reassembly at Virginia Union University, where it supported a historically Black campus active in the Civil Rights movement.