Villa Germaine, Belgium

Villa Germaine is a moderately sized Belgian house. The house lies on the outskirts of a quiet little town. The house is also known as “Villa Germain”, a slight spelling difference among explorers. There is a photo calendar hanging from the wall. The date on the calendar suggests the house has been empty since 1995.

The villa was once behind a low wall marking the limits of the property, enclosing the house and its large garden. In recent years the land around has been cleared of all vegetation. The extensive clearing work has exposed the clay-rich mud and gouged it with deep tyre tracks. It appears that the days of Villa Germaine are numbered and that it may be demolished.

The walls of the living room are painted a rich emerald green. The living room and dining room are connected by a simple archway. In addition, every room in the house has a fireplace. Next door to the living room there is a smaller room with a drop-leaf wooden table. Religious statues and books decorate the fireplace. A teacup and small milk jugs sit ontop of the table, next to an open book. The afternoon light in the house was quite beautiful, in this case.

Generally, the bedrooms are simply furnished. The furniture is plain-looking and angular, typical of 1970’s style. There is a balcony adjacent to the first-floor landing. This area is fully enclosed with a roof and panoramic windows. The perfect place to look out across the garden on a summer evening. There is a table and chairs and some old plant pots.

The loss of Villa Germaine

We visited Villa Germaine in the winter of 2017, after an eventful few days exploring. At this time there was evidence of a small fire, which has caused damage to the wooden stairs and the upper floors. As a result of this, parts of bedroom and landing floors had begun to collapse.

There was a large fire in 2018, destroying much of the house. The center of the fire was the living room area, it seems. As a consequence, the house was demolished shortly after this fire,