Eclectic villa from 1912

Eclectic villa from 1912, adjoining older 19th-century row houses, located on the old mill site of the "Plaatsmolen".
History. The "Plaatsmolen" is documented to date back at least to 1465, when the mill was recorded in an interest book. The mill was located on land in the lordship of Brande, owned by the lord of Egem. During the religious wars at the end of the 16th century, the mill was destroyed and rebuilt in 1612. In 1834, miller Petrus Vancraeymeersch added an "oil mill" and the still existing house, probably the first two-story house in Egem, to the south of the existing "corn windmill". In 1851, an extension was realized on the south side of the house, described as a "warehouse" in 1901 in the land register. However, a photo from the early 20th century shows a house of two bays and two floors with a basket-arch gate. The oil mill from 1834 had to be completely rebuilt after a fire in 1860. In 1868, the Plaatsmolen was replaced by a stone version after the wooden windmill was blown down in 1866. The mill consisted of a ground floor and three attics. In the early 20th century, the mill was modernized by the Maes brothers, grandsons of Pieter Vancraeymeersch. In 1909, a gas engine was installed, allowing production even during calm winds. Shortly thereafter, dismantling of the historic Plaatsmolen began. In 1911 and 1916, the mill bank was excavated, in 1912 the mill wings and the mill cross were removed, and in 1922, the mill cap, lowering the mill body by about two meters. The oil mill and milling buildings, on the other hand, were repeatedly expanded, according to land registry data in 1910 with an extension at the front, and in 1912 when the milling buildings were built against the mill body. The older house ("warehouse") to the south was demolished by Alidor Maes in 1912 and replaced by a new residential building in eclectic style, reportedly a design by master builder Naert, inhabited only after World War I. In 1926, a rear extension to the mill body and milling buildings was realized. In 1950 and 1956 – the milling buildings had meanwhile come into the possession of Frans Lammertyn-Maes – a rear warehouse was built and enlarged. The milling buildings were used until 1984 for the production of animal feeds. In 1988, the majority of the rear extension from 1926 was demolished. At the end of the 20th century, in 1998, the remainder of the mill body and the former milling buildings were demolished, along with the rear warehouse. In 2003, according to land registry data, a new residential building was erected on the site of the old windmill.
Description. Semi-detached eclectic town house of two stories under gabled roofs with black glazed double-curved tiles. New gutter. Facades characterized by window bays rising into decoratively worked gable fronts and dormers, with corner top pieces, stepped motifs, and a wide projecting chimney volume. Chamfered southwest corner beneath a more widely projecting floor. Segment-arched window openings, including paired in two- and three-light configurations set within bay recesses, in which preserved woodwork (T- and sliding windows with small leaded divisions in the top lights supplied with yellow glass). Yellow brick cladding adorned with decorative anchors and enlivened by frequent use of natural stone for the blocked plinth, sills, corner and closing stones, corbel stones, consoles, and top pieces. Facade articulation through paired segment-arched niches in the parapets. Emphasized entrance section designed as a portico under a toothed cornice and slated shed roof, and opened by round arches supported by a natural stone column. Round-arched double door in neo-Gothic style with a transom from paired segment-arch windows. Crowned by a two-sided bay window under slate roofing.
Adjacent volume built at an angle opposite the building line with remaining front-facing cobblestone strip. Row houses of three and two bays and one and a half stories under a gabled roof in black glazed mechanical tiles. New gutter. Light yellow-painted decorative plastering with broad imitation bands at the ground floor, curving around the parapets of the windows on the upper floor, characterized by false joints and panels with diamond patterns on the eaves. Black-painted plinth and continuous lower sill, stepping down under a lower loading hatch. Rectangular wall openings with partly preserved woodwork, T-windows, and wooden doors under shared transoms with profiled keystones. Adjacent part with a blind facade under the same roofing, provided with a rectangular gate opening and a new northern side facade, according to a photo from the early 20th century, previously also opened by windows, later closed up and re-plastered.
Interior. Town house with preserved interior layout and decor, including ceramic tile floors (mosaic imitation, floral pattern); moldings and rosettes; fine fireplaces, including polished blue stone with the inscription: "EAST WEST HOME BEST". Staircase with square newel post and geometric balusters. Lower residences partly service rooms (former office and shop), partly living rooms, including preserved beam ceiling and cement tile floors (floral pattern).
CATASTROPHIC ARCHIVE WEST FLANDERS, 207: Mutation sketches, Egem, 1835/7, 1851/21, 1901/9, 1910/6, 1913/11, 1926/9, 1950/12, 1956/19, 1988/14, 1998/18, 2003/3.
ARICKX V., History of Egem. Part I: a village before the French Revolution, Kortrijk, 1982, p. 554-556.
ARICKX V., History of Egem. Part II: Egem since the French Revolution, Kortrijk, 1982, p. 333-335.
DENEWET L., Even these Flemish mill remnants did not survive 2000, in Molenecho's, vol. 28, no. 1, 2000, p. 10-16.
DEVLIEGHER L., The mills of West Flanders, in Art Heritage of West Flanders, part 9, Tielt, 1984, p. 340-341.
VANDECAVEYE E., DEVOLDERE W., Egem in old postcards, Tielt, 1978, photo 14.
Source: Devooght K. & Santy P. 2010: Inventory of architectural heritage, Province of West Flanders, Municipality of Pittem with the sub-municipality Egem, Building through the ages in Flanders WVL49, (unpublished working documents).
Authors: Devooght, Kristien & Santy, Pieter

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