The mansion of Doctor Vloeberghs

In 1962 the 'street' (it had no name at the time) was named after Doctor Vloeberghs. Note the country style from the beginning of the 19th century, the colorful windows under the eaves, the adjacent separate gatehouse, the horse stable converted into a house and the beautiful wrought iron fence with the initials L and B.

Florent Vloeberghs (1874-1916) married Pauline Nys (1868-1933), six years her senior. Two sons became chemists in the Far East where they ended up in a concentration camp by the Japanese during World War II. Two daughters became nuns, one hospice sister in Leuven and the other teacher at the urselinen in OLV-Waver. A son would become a goldsmith and marry.

Florent Vloeberghs was a general practitioner with the villagers. He once 'forgot' to ask the poor for a fee. In a stream that ran through the garden – now hidden in a concrete pipe – he fetched leeches for his practice. He suffered from tuberculosis, but continued to visit his patients and in the middle of the night he was taken by wheelbarrow to the sick. He stopped his practice so as not to infect the patients.

Jean Bollen bought the house in 1928. He was married to Marie-Celine Laporte. He was a qualified gardener who had won a gold and silver medal at an exhibition in Gembloux in 1907. He was a gardener at Pierco, had a trade in grains and seeds and organized pilgrimages and trips with a van during the period when paid leave became possible.

The gatehouse with the year 1830 and which originally stood on the street side, was demolished in 1928 by the then owner Julian Bollen and rebuilt stone by stone on the current site. The fence dates from that period and the initials refer to the couple Bollen – Laporte.

Jan Rymenams