Under the reign of King Leopold II, following the covering of the Senne, Brussels was remodelled with large boulevards and green avenues.
The then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Jules Anspach (1829–1879), contributed to the transformation of the urban landscape of the capital by the realisation of the thoroughfare from the North Station to the South Station.

The Hotel Le Plaza opened its doors in 1930.
Soon after, prestigious guests came to stay there, and it became one of the symbols of Brussels' luxury hotel trade.
In 1940, during the German occupation, the hotel was placed under the authority of the German troops and the military commander for Belgium and northern France took his quarters there.
Premeditating its destruction, the Hotel Le Plaza was, exactly like the Palace of Justice, made into a booby-trap by the Germans, before the arrival of the Allied Forces.
When it exploded, it killed two British Army officers: Captain George Hayton (age 32) and Major Anthony Wright (age 30), and destroyed the hotel's winter garden and sumptuous stained glass dome.
Thankfully, the rest of the hotel was not damaged.

The song Indépendance Cha Cha was played for the first time in the hotel during the negotiations about Congolese independence from Belgium in 1960.
Under the reign of King Leopold II, following the covering of the Senne, Brussels was remodelled with large boulevards and green avenues. The then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Jules Anspach (1829–1879), contributed to the transformation of the urban landscape of the capital by the realisation of the thoroughfare from the North Station to the South Station.
The Hotel Le Plaza opened its doors in 1930. Soon after, prestigious guests came to stay there, and it became one of the symbols of Brussels' luxury hotel trade. In 1940, during the German occupation, the hotel was placed under the authority of the German troops and the military commander for Belgium and northern France took his quarters there. Premeditating its destruction, the Hotel Le Plaza was, exactly like the Palace of Justice, made into a booby-trap by the Germans, before the arrival of the Allied Forces. When it exploded, it killed two British Army officers: Captain George Hayton (age 32) and Major Anthony Wright (age 30), and destroyed the hotel's winter garden and sumptuous stained glass dome. Thankfully, the rest of the hotel was not damaged.
The song Indépendance Cha Cha was played for the first time in the hotel during the negotiations about Congolese independence from Belgium in 1960.
Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels