The Little Shop of Memories

In the Belgian countryside, a pagoda bears witness to a whim from one century ago

Words Laura Pezzino — Photos Luc Roymans

I took a taxi to Edegem, a commuter town near Antwerp. The driver dropped me in front of an impressive bamboo gate, an exotic presence in the midst of small pointy-roofed houses that resemble those of a painting by Brueghel the Elder. no doorbell, just the sound of nearby traffic and birds. I look for a way in. The house is hidden by woods: a pagoda in Japanese style, clad in blue tile, roofs with raised corners, bow windows, red columns. Like something from a distant planet in the Belgian countryside. I phone my hostess, who informs me she’ll be very late for our appointment. With nowhere to pass the time, I end up in a filling station with a coin-op coffee machine. The pagoda of Edegem was built in 1929 by an elderly Jewish woman, part of a family of diamond merchants. The brother of Theresia Coetermans-Daverveldt was named Louis, the Persian consul. At the start of the 1900s many wealthy people built vacations homes in this area. In the 1920s Theresia, married, without children, bought the land and built this “oriental” dwelling with the help of an architect who was an expert on Art nouveau and chinoiserie.

The present owner finally arrives on a white bicycle. Caroline Van den Eynden is 38 years old, an artist with silvery hair. She grew up in Antwerp, then moved to this suburb, so she was already familiar with the heritage-listed house. She ushers me into a large living area, now used as a studio, salon, dining room and playroom. «The ceilings are an exact copy of those of the Japanese pavilion at the Paris Exposition of 1925. This is the only room in that style, though. Upstairs, the bedrooms are totally normal», Caroline says. Together with her ex-husband, she purchased the house two years ago, after it had been on the market for 13 years without a buyer.

The perfect place for an art studio, where the main building and the constructions in the garden are still a worksite, still in a state of becoming.

«A window, a door: all my memories are architectural. My art consists in creating miniatures of buildings that have been a part of my life.This house is the perfect place for them»