A little history of the house...
This brick and limestone house, with its natural slate Mansard roof, was built between the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th. In its three centuries of existence, it has seen many families come and go…
We do not know the list, unfortunately, but we do know in particular that it was the birthplace of the painter Alexandre Robert on February 27, 1817.
He was a student of François-Joseph Navez at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he would later become a professor and then director.
He married Alice Madou, the daughter of the painter Jean-Baptiste Madou .
A talented portraitist, he was very popular among the Belgian aristocracy and bourgeoisie after the government commissioned him to paint the portrait of Baron de Stassart . He also painted portraits of members of the royal family. At the Brussels Salon of 1869 , King Leopold II acquired his painting entitled "The Love of Gold" .
In 1870 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Belgium and was appointed Officer of the Order of Leopold.
Today, a street in Trazegnies bears his name.
One of his paintings, Jacob receiving the bloodstained robe from his son Joseph (1841), is located in the Saint-Martin church in Trazegnies, where he was baptized.
Another one, Martyrdom of Saint Barbara (1841), is located in the Saint-Lambert church in Courcelles.
During the Second World War, the house was used to hide resistance fighters in a small room concealed behind a wardrobe… which my parents discovered by chance years later! The cellars, as well as the cellars of the neighboring house, also served as shelters during the bombings.
A few years later, with the rise of the coal mines and the massive influx of immigrant workers, the house sheltered several miners' families from Italy, Greece, and Hungary. We are still in contact with some of their children who were born in the house.
It was in 1960 that my parents bought the building from the Mariemont-Bascoup Coal Mining Company . After much deliberation, and despite the building's dilapidated state (they had obtained a demolition permit!!!)), they embarked on a major renovation, to make it into two dwellings: one for themselves and one that they rented out, which would later become our home.
We'll be back at it again a few years later, with new renovations this time for a welcoming gîte that's just waiting for you… 😊
Ready for the tour...?