Le Pigeon / La Chaloupe d'Or, Brussels

The guild-houses and private mansions running along the north side of Grand Place, just to the right of the King's House, are not quite as well-known as their neighbors, though the "Pigeon House", formerly owned by the painters' guild, is of interest as the place where French writer Victor Hugo spent some time during his exile imposed by the Coup d'Etat of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851. The house also bears four unusual "mascarons" (grotesque masks) in the manner of the green man of Romano-Celtic folklore.

The adjacent Chaloupe d'Or ("Golden Boat") is appealing, too; the old headquarters of the tailors' guild, it is capped by a statue of St. Homobonus of Cremona, their patron saint, and now home to one of the square's bars serving good waffles and fries, and an excellent variety of mussels.