This house with the Kempisch clog is located in the beautiful, rural Hoeilaart. A house with a story, as it turns out. After a nice conversation with the owner of this handsome house, we learn that this house was built in 1920 by his grandfather. A ‘serristen house’, as there are many of them in this beautiful region (Overijse, Hoeilaart, Huldenberg, Tervuren). This name refers to the houses that the grape growers had built in the 1920s.
Glass village
Glasses Grape cultivation has made this region a very rich area in the years 1900 to 1970. What started in 1986, when Felix Sohie built the first grape greenhouse, has grown into a region of glass villages over the years. The peak was in 1961, when the grape region was covered with about 33,000 greenhouses, 13,000 of which in Hoeilaart. Hoeilaart rightly got the name of ‘glass village’. village
The decay
The decline started around 1962 with the arrival of the European Economic Community (EEC), which ensured the importation of grapes from Southern countries. Then came the oil crisis in 1973, quickly followed by the oil crisis in 1979.
The high costs for fuel oil in combination with foreign competition meant that many serrists had to close their doors.
The Belgian grape today
Younger growers soon invested in computer-controlled companies, today there are still about 15 companies in the region that cultivate grapes. The Belgian grape has not lost any quality.
Renovation and extension of the house
In the meantime, our customer’s home has been renovated and expanded. For this, a combination was used between crepi and our Kempisch clog. Another very clever realization by architect Christine Ceuppens. The greenhouses used to be at the back of the large garden. The house currently has an idyllic view of a well-kept large garden and the green landscape in the beautiful region of Hoeilaart.
Click hier for the link to the photos of this house.