As you approach the Withuis, a small openwork plaque, integrated into the fence and depicting an inkwell and quill pen, informs us that its patron, Jef Mennekens, was a man of letters, specifically a poet, author of children’s literature, and playwright. Along the axis of the facade, the inscription Withuis (White House), with its clean lines, recalls his Flemish origins.
Born in Herentals in 1877, Jef Mennekens completed his secondary education at the Royal Athenaeum of Brussels (1892-1895), where he joined Help U Zelf, a circle of Flemish students whose aim was to encourage and promote the use of Dutch and to defend the rights of the Flemish people. It was also at the Athenaeum that his writing talents were revealed and where he formed a close friendship with Herman Teirlinck (1879-1967), who would become one of the leading figures in the revival of Flemish literature.
At the age of sixteen, he became a member of the Brussels artistic association De Distel (The Thistle), where he recited his poems and achieved success when he passionately recited his Epos der Franskiljons, a satire targeting the French-speaking elite of Belgium (the Franskiljons) who dominated the politics and culture of the time.
In 1895, Mennekens entered the administration service of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a municipality then experiencing rapid growth. He held various positions there before being appointed, in 1923, municipal secretary, the highest-ranking official in the municipality, who directed all administrative services under the authority of the College of Burgomasters and Aldermen. The mayoralty was then held by the liberal Louis Mettewie (1855-1942). From 1921, he taught a course in administrative sciences in Dutch and published several administrative works in Dutch, thus providing, for the first time, a new generation of Flemish civil servants with reference books in their own language. In Molenbeek, he also worked to convince parents to send their children to Dutch-language schools.
A passionate theater enthusiast, particularly of amateur theater, he founded the “De Violier” circle in Jette in 1908, a Dutch-speaking amateur theater group. A playwright and poet, he also contributed theater criticism to several specialized newspapers. During the interwar period, his plays were regularly performed at the Royal Flemish Theater (KVS).
A Fleming with liberal leanings, he consistently adopted a moderate stance, notably during the First World War, distancing himself from “Flamenpolitik,” a strategy employed by the occupying authorities to divide the Belgian people by exploiting existing linguistic tensions and Germanizing the country. During the Second World War, Mennekens remained true to this position. In 1942, the occupying forces imposed the creation of Greater Brussels, a large agglomeration that merged the 19 Brussels municipalities into one, with a collaborationist aldermanic council headed by a Flemish nationalist mayor. In this new organization, Mennekens accepted the position of district chief, an administrative role, primarily to prevent it from being held by a figure of the New Order, a fascist ideological movement that sought to replace Belgian democracy with a regime inspired by the National Socialist model, for which he felt no sympathy. It was probably this decision, misinterpreted in certain resistance circles, that led to death threats against him and then, on March 26, 1943, his execution in front of his home by an armed partisan, a communist resistance fighter representing the armed wing of the Independence Front.
In 1900, Jef Mennekens married Hermine Jonckheere, born in 1875, in Laeken. Three children were born of this union: Frieda (1901), Herman (1903), and, later, Daisy (1915). It was in 1926, when the family was living at 69 Rue Édouard Faes in Jette, that the decision was made to build on Avenue Charles Woeste, a newly created avenue that became the backbone of the Albert district, an important symbol of a rapidly changing municipality.
For the construction of his house, Jef Mennekens commissioned Joseph Diongre (1878-1963), an architect who was a personal friend. Diongre, after studying drawing and architecture at the Brussels Academy and completing various internships, had undertaken a study trip to the Netherlands where he was impressed by the work of Hendrik Petrus Berlage, one of the early proponents of functionalism. Before the First World War, he built numerous houses for the lower middle class in a variety of styles, ranging from Neo-Renaissance to Art Nouveau. His work between the wars is characterized by its eclecticism.
Oscillating between Art Deco, regionalism, and moderate Modernism, he built numerous low-cost housing units. It was during the construction of a small garden city in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in 1922-1923 that Diongre and Mennekens became friends[1]. Subsequently, the two men would collaborate again on various projects in Molenbeek[2], including, in 1931, the construction of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in the very heart of the municipality. Later, Diongre would distinguish himself once more with the construction of the National Broadcasting Institute in Ixelles (1935-1938) and the Woluwe-Saint-Lambert town hall (1935-1939).
For Art Deco lovers, the Withuis is available for rent…
Restored architect-designed house – 5 bedrooms with garden | Le Lion Real Estate
The Withuis, with its striking interplay of plastered volumes and brightly colored window and door frames, represents one of the high points of Diongre’s career and testifies to the client’s openness to modernity. It would seem, moreover, that an initial design for a traditional bourgeois house had been rejected by Joseph Mennekens[3]. For the Withuis, the architect also designed the furniture, lighting, and stained-glass windows, the execution of which was entrusted to glassmaker F. Crickx, while the wall decoration was created by Dutch painter Vreedenburgh.
In December 1927, the family was able to move into their new home. It then consisted of the Mennekens couple, both in their fifties, and their daughters, their son now being married. Family lore tells that when Joseph Diongre announced his visit, Hermine Mennekens would hasten to hide numerous knick-knacks, for the architect favored simplicity. Later, the Mennekens would again commission Diongre to build the villas Flikketer (1936) and Populierke (1938) in Knokke-Heist, where the family would maintain their routines for many years[4]. In 1937, Daisy married Pierre Maistriaux (1914-1997). The young couple settled in the Withuis, where the family soon grew with the births of Sylvia in 1938 and then Christiane in 1940.
Jef and Hermine Mennekens’ children gathered in front of the house, 1935.
From left to right, in the back row: Yvonne Truyens, Herman’s wife, Daisy, Herman, and Frieda.
In the front left: Herman’s son, Jef.
(Herman Mennekens Collection)
At the time of Jef Mennekens’ assassination in 1943, his wife was in the hall with their two daughters, the eldest ready to leave. Startled by the sound of the gunshot, Frieda ran out of the house, took a few steps on the sidewalk, and rushed back inside, screaming. Daisy then came out and threw herself on her father’s body, lying in front of the house.[5] A tragedy that marked the family history… Hermine Mennekens died in 1952. Daisy and Pierre Maistriaux-Mennekens lived in the house until their respective deaths, except for a nine-year period from 1946 to 1955. In 1987, they entrusted the exterior restoration to the architectural firm TRIO. Widowed, Daisy Maistriaux-Mennekens, deeply attached to Withuis and to the memory of her parents, continued to live there. It was not uncommon to see her sitting by the living room window. Her greatest wish was to be able to spend her final days in this house, so full of memories… This wish was fulfilled, with the support of her family, as she passed away there in 2018 at the age of 103.
The Withuis before and after restoration
The house was then put up for sale and acquired in 2019 by its current owner. He discovered it somewhat by chance, immediately sensed the place was steeped in history, and was touched that it had remained in the same family for nearly a century. Struck by the contrast between the almost Constructivist facade and the interior, a warm haven revealing a bold polychromy, he considers this type of house, like a work of art, a shared heritage of which he is only the temporary custodian, charged with preserving it and passing it on to future generations. More than five years of administrative procedures were required before the renovations could begin, but the owner acknowledges that the authorities are now showing a certain flexibility in allowing the adaptation of a listed house to the demands of contemporary life and commends the expertise of the tradespeople who worked on the project. The result lives up to his expectations, and the house is ready to welcome its new inhabitants!
The story continues…
Cécile Dubois
A Brussels native with a degree in history, Cécile Dubois is president of the Brussels Art Deco Society and the author of several books on Art Nouveau and Art Deco (Racine edition).
She organizes the annual Art Nouveau and Art Deco fair in Schaerbeek.
This November 2026, Cécile is our very first guest writer.
We warmly thank her for her invaluable contribution.
[1] Social housing at “Cité Diongre,” rue des Béguines, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.
[2] Joseph Diongre also built the following in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean: a complex of social housing buildings in the maritime district (rue François Mus, rue Gabrielle Petit, avenue Dubrucq, rue de l’Escaut, and rue de Rotterdam) (1924); the “Cour Saint-Lazare” social housing building, rue Edmond Bonehill and rue Louis De Gunst (1927); the “Cité Van Hemelrijck” social housing complex, between rue de l’Indépendance and rue de Groeninghe (1930); Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, parvis Saint-Jean-Baptiste (1930); and the Jef Mennekens Municipal School (1932).
[3] Jos Vandenbreeden & Linda Van Santvoort, architect; Joseph Diongre, architect Joseph Diongre architecte. Een huis, een kerk en een geluidsfabriek/Une maison, une église et une usine à sons, Bruxelles/Brussel, 1989, p. 18.
[4] Located at 10 and 12 Avenue Jef Mennekens in Knokke-Heist, they were demolished – https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/themas/7222
https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/58665.
[5] Testimony of Daisy Maistriaux-Mennekens collected by André Dartevelle, in À mon père résistant 2 – Ignace Lapiower, partisan armé, a documentary directed by André Dartevelle, Belgium, 1995.
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