(b Ghent, 1871; d Ghent, 1935). Belgian architect, exhibition designer and teacher. He studied at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent, where he won the first prize in architecture in 1894. He then travelled to Paris and Vienna (1896–8) and his discovery of the works shown at the Viennese Secession exhibition made a deep impression on his subsequent work. His career as a designer began when he took part in the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa in Turin (1902) and Milan (1906), and the reputation he acquired at the Exposition d’Art Religieux in Paris (1911) led to him being chosen as the principal architect and coordinator of the international exhibition at Ghent in 1913. He built its main pavilions in a classically inspired style tinged with echoes of Vienna; the Palais des Fêtes et des Floralies is the only building that remains. In 1920 Van de Voorde was appointed Director of the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent where he was already teaching architecture, the history of ornament and decorative art, and where he continued to teach until the end of his life. He reorganized the architectural curriculum to cover both stylistic vocabulary and contemporary building techniques, and his school became one of the best in the country. He continued to work as an architect on a variety of buildings including public commissions, restoration projects, garden city planning and low-cost housing, blocks of flats, industrial buildings and large houses, mainly in the region of Ghent. Some works were executed in collaboration with his brother, A. Van de Voorde, including the Banque Belge du Travail (1923) in Ghent. He was one of the most important architectural figures in Ghent during the first half of the 20th century.

• Van de Voorde, Oscar(-Henri)
  • Belgium, §II, 5: Architecture, after c 1890