The exploitation of a unpublished judicial source, namely the ''Vues de lieux'' ('' Survey of Parcels''), drawn up by property
experts as required by the First Instance Tribunal of Brussels, allows us to revise our knowledge of the 19th Century city in a
thouroug-going way. These documents give us first-hand information concerning topographical details about the properties expropriated
as well as information about economic activity and social class of their occupants.