École Notre Dame
THE ABANDONED SCHOOL IN BELGIUM
This school started in 1928 as ‘École Notre Dame’. The school was housed in the outbuildings of a castle from 1861. Later the school merged and was renamed ‘Sint-Martinusschool’.
The old big villa ‘Kasteel Belvédère‘ on the school premises was built by Jan Delannoy in 1861. His uncle, Jan Frans De Deken, enlarged the domain to 1.8 hectares and commissioned an English-style park. In 1928 the domain was sold to the sisters of St-Vincentius a Paulo in Gijzegem, who moved in and established a school in the outbuildings.
In the 1960s they built a new ‘Sint-Martinusschool’ on the North side of the park. Another part of the park was sold.
The empty building had some nice colors and atmosphere. I visited the ‘École Notre Dame’ in 2013. The castle villa was restored and sold in 2015. Also, the school buildings were reconverted into houses. The original garden wall on the Pastinakenstraat is preserved. Follow this link for more abandoned schools.
