A house of Plaisance in wartime
The most prestigious house in Doel is the Hooghuis, a listed monument, built in Flemish Renaissance style and with a monumental door frame in Baroque style. It was founded in the early 17th century during the Eighty Years’ War as the Huis van Plaisance – a holiday home – of a wealthy Antwerp patrician. The Hooghuis was almost demolished on more than one occasion and is a symbol of the village’s urge to survive.
Rubens and Brant
The portal of the Hooghuis is almost identical to that of the Rubens House in Antwerp. But Rubens never owned it. Jan Brandt, Rubens’ father-in-law, owned several plots of land as an ‘immigrant’ in Doel. One of these plots adjoined the Hooghuis. Perhaps that explains the persistent story that Brant owned this building? In any case, Rubens’ father-in-law played an important role in the Polder board at the time. The recovered minutes also show that ‘Pedro Paulo Rubbens, konstenare en rentiere’ was once summoned for a dispute with one of his tenants in Doel.
Shop, pub, cafe
Over the centuries, the Hooghuis deteriorated and the building was used as a shop, pub and café. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Hooghuis came into the possession of Guillaume De Lee, the polder messenger, and meetings of the polder board were held there. Part of the polder archive ended up in the attic of the Hooghuis in that period. In the mid-1960s, a well-to-do couple from Brussels ended up in Doel after fleeing the recently independent Congo. Marc Debaive and Colette Hermans loved old things. Colette testifies: ‘The last mayor of Doel ruled this village as a sort of ‘Boer Coene’. He wanted to knock down the beautiful Hooghuis, which was next to the church, in the 1960s to create a spacious parking lot. We immediately contacted the previous owner, who was only too happy to sell it. The trees meanwhile grew through the roof. We could have it for the round sum of 400,000 Belgian francs. The mayor of Doel has never forgiven us for that.”
With their own resources, the couple tried to give the building back the allure of the past. In 1978 the Hooghuis became a protected monument. There were art exhibitions and activities of local cultural associations. The building was also the residence of Chris de Stoop for a while at the end of the last century, who wrote his first book about Doel there, ‘DeBres’.
Until the end of their lives, Marc and Colette worked hard for the building’s recognition and survival. They received little response. After their deaths, the non-profit organization Casuele became the owner of the Hooghuis. Because of the planned port expansion, a plan was worked out to tear down the 17th century monument and rebuild it a few kilometers further – in the 19th century Prosperpolder. In 2014, a relocation of the monument almost became a reality. But that was thwarted by vigilant activists. Since then, the stately Hooghuis has been waiting for a new phase in its existence.
The name ‘Hooghuis’ would refer to the place where it was built, namely on the highest point of the flooded area. Another explanation brings us to the noble family van Borsele van den Hooge, descendants of the lords of Veere, who owned land in Doel and were related to the lords of Beveren. The Hooghuis (°1613/1645) should not be confused with the Heerenhuis (°1613) where the Polder board, the ‘lords’ of the polder, resided. The ‘Veltboeck’ of 1733 shows that the ‘Heerenhuis’ was located on the Kerkengat while the ‘Hooghuis’ is next to the church.
