Villas in Lucie

Villa from 1883 in an eclectic design with a picturesque slant and which was used as a town hall for many years. History In 1883, the Bouchez-Nijpels couple had a villa built on the site of a demolished farm, just opposite the church, with stables and coach house and associated park. Antoon Bouchez was a soldier by profession, more specifically lieutenant-general in the garrison of Antwerp. Whether this villa was intended as a permanent or country residence or who the designer was, is not known. As can be seen from old postcards, the villa was planted in the middle of a spacious park of approximately 35 acres, completely enclosed with a high brick wall with wrought iron entrance gates. In 1890 the villa came into the possession of the merchant J. Gevenois and his wife Lucie Storms, after whom the manor house was named 'Kasteel Gevenois' or 'Villa Lucie'. In 1911 the villa became the property of Jules Ledoux, a son from the first marriage of Lucie Storms and pharmacist in Mechelen. In this period, the villa was renamed 'Les Tilleuls', referring to the lime trees in the park. Barely two years later, in 1913, the villa was sold to the municipality of Kampenhout, which housed its town hall. With a view to the construction of a municipal square, the fence walls were demolished and the park destroyed. In 1980 the municipal services moved. Since then, the former town hall has been given various uses, such as police station, music school and stamp room. At the time of its protection, it served as a municipal library. Recently, the building was completely restored. Since 2011, it has housed the Brabant Centre for Music Traditions. Description The brick structure on a plinth is constructed in local sand-lime stone with two storeys covered with two perpendicular slate gable roofs with hipped and tent roof ends respectively. It has a simple floor plan with a shallow, rectangular hall and an adjoining staircase, parallel to the façade, with the reception room (east) in front and the dining room and lounge (west) at the back. The service quarters were housed in the basement and in the single-storey extension on the south side. Stylistically, this rather modest country house can be accommodated under the broad heading of eclecticism with a romantic, picturesque slant. Architecturally, this is reflected in a preference for pictorial effects – the red brick walls are literally crossed out with white brick strips – a varied play of roofs, staggered façade surfaces with bay window-shaped extension, a balcony and a purely ornamental corner turret. In addition, a decorative use of materials stands out: decorative masonry in the form of bacon layers, scaffolding holes, toothed window and door frames, mouse tooth friezes and cordon and cornices. In the same way, the wood is processed into beautifully carved cornices, wind springs, and a balcony fence. A rock formation is also present in the form of a concrete miniature cave built around the back door. In the interior finish, the decorative accent is on the dining room and the lounge on the garden side. The dining room has a stucco ceiling with central rosas and heavy moldings punctuated by two heavy nut beams along the entire length decorated with rosettes and leaf motifs. The stained glass windows in the erkerk-shaped extension are raised with floral motifs. In the salon, afterwards wedding hall, walls and ceiling have been worked out as one decorative whole. The white, light blue and gold painted motifs testify to empire influence. The wall articulation consists of rectangular panels and a gull-wing door with supraporta. A soffit frame, delineated with an astragal and egg molding forms the transition with the heavy stucco ceiling. Centrally, the usual rosas is inscribed in a larger circle bordered by a leaf frame, while the swirls are filled with a casette motif. The intermediate surfaces are raised with arabesques and leaf bushes. The drawing room and dining room have an identical panel door decorated with a ribbon-wrapped leaf wreath with a book and a bird motif in the middle, respectively. On the first floor is a panelled room painted in wood imitation with a border at the top with a stylized motif.

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