User:Fritske de Jong/Castle of Doctor Heylen

The Castle of Doctor Heylen or Groenhoek Castle, is a Belgian townhouse in the Schoolstraat 20 in Itegem, near Heist-op-den-Berg. The house was built in neoclassical in the year 1853. In 2005 it gained protection as a monument and in 2019 and 2020 it is undergoing a restoration to restore the exterior

History
In the year of 1848, Josephus Heylen (1822-1896) and Lucia Rombauts (1829-1892) married to seal their fortune. Both the Heylen as the Rombauts family performed professions of high prestige; her father was a municipal clerk, her grandfather a sacristan and her uncle a notary and mayor. Togheter, both families had a lot of properties spread across the village where they gained earnings from. Josephus and Lucia decided to build a stately neoclassical castle in the Steenweg naar Berlaer (later Huizebeek and presentky known as Schoolstraat). Who designed or constructed it is still unknown to this day. After construction was finished in 1853 the young family moved in with their maids. Several properties surrounding the castle were purchased by Josephus to make a large domain, complete with stables and a house for the coachman and his family. Before the family lived there, a path connected the Heksestraat to the church. This was however bent around the property once it was formed. A private entrance was also present in the Kerkstraat so the coachman could enter the property from the backside. A ditch surrounded the castle complete with idyllic bridges, that ended in a large pond at the backside (cfr. NGI Basemaps 1873-1981). The current domain isn't as large as it was back in 1853. In the second half of the 20th century new building-plots where formed around and on the property. Originally the domain ended where the parish hall (a small school in 1900) is located and it stretched all the way to the Heksestraat. Almost the entirety of the Rozenstraat was also in the hands of the Heylen family and formed as a large extension to the back garden. It was there where a big residential area was built after the last Heylen who lived in the castle, Charles Heylen (1894-1962), passed away. "Only" a tenth of the domain of 1853 remains part of the castle to this day. Despite it shrinking in size it remains a large property, especially given the fact it lies in the village center of Itegem.

The Heylen Family
Josephus Heylen is registered in the population archives as "rentenier". This means he received an annuity by owning several properties, which in 1854 he owned 43 of spread across Itegem. This made him part of a very small elite group in the village that were great landowners. He mostly owned forestland (coppicing), meadow, wheat fields and even several large houses. His largest contiguous property was his Castle domain that was roughly five hectares large. If Heylen bought more properties after 1858 is unclear, as the index of the Poppkaart of Itegem where his assets where registered in ended that year. Josephus died a widower in 1896 and was buried on the church cemetery, but later his monumental grave was moved to the new graveyard when the cemetery got out of use. It now lies there in the centre towering all graves, as it is the largest of the graveyard.

Josephus had five children with is wife Lucia. They first had two baby daughters that died within half a year and had three sons afterwards. The first, Charles Heylen (1851-1921) became a doctor in the town of Niel near Antwerp after finishing his studies in 1876. According to a ledger of the renowned doctor Medardus Brems of Heist-op-den-Berg, Charles expertise was wanted to perform surgery.

The second son, Ovide Heylen (1854-1930), became an engineer. He lived in de village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, Brussel s and Herentals. There he worked for “Poudreries d’ Herenthals”, a prominent weapons manufacturer. After his younger brother Raphaël Heylen passed away in 1911, he stayed in the castle until he passed away in 1930. A postcard was made titled "Castle of Mr. O. Heylen", confirming his presens.

The third and last son, Raphaël Heylen (1856-1911), finished his studies in 1880 and moved to Antwerp where he became a doctor in 1881. He married Jullienne Bartholomé, but the marriage ended childless after a divorce in 1897. Though he became godfather of his eponymous godchild Raphaël, one of the four sons of his older brother Ovide. In 1892 doctor Heylen went on a holiday to France and the United States. After he returned to Antwerp he became a doctor in the Congo Free State for three years. After his adventures abroad came to an end, he decided to move to Itegem.