Built in 1927 for the poet and communal secretary Jef Mennekens, the Withuis is a major work by architect Joseph Diongre. He designed the architecture, the decorative features, the furniture and the layout of the garden. The house remained in the Mennekens family for four generations and has been fully listed since 1985, including its original furniture.
EU granted this project 259k
The restoration was carried out by Goeminne Architects & Partners and Architectures Parallèles, with support from urban Brussels. The work focused on the façade, window frames, woodwork and interior spaces. Among the most visible changes, the stairwell has regained its black and ochre-yellow colour scheme.
Textured plasterwork, stained glass, ceilings and furniture elements were also restored. A lantern skylight planned in Diongre’s 1926 drawings was additionally built above the stairwell. Documentary research and stratigraphic analyses carried out by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage made it possible to recover colours, textures and finishes that had been erased by later alterations. More than 20 trades took part in the restoration, relearning certain traditional techniques in the process.
The Brussels Region supported the work with a grant for €259,484.10.