1907-1943

'Duchateau Millstones' (picture © AAM)

The new incumbent of 266 Chaussée de Haecht was named Alfred Duchateau: he was a young engineer from the Centre of the country, whose family had made its fortune in the steel industry. Having left the family seat at the Groseillon, he settled in Brussels to set up in Schaerbeek “Les Meules Duchateau” (a Millstones business). His workshops were situated near the station, a matter of minutes away from his new house. Under the impulse of its founder, the small plant grew exponentially: the factory would gradually takeover the whole street block with a workforce of 150.

Alfred and his family would not spend much time in Maison Autrique: at the onset of the Great war, the family left the country, some for the UK, some for France. Soon his younger brother, Edmond, moved in and was so taken with the house that he bought it in 1922.

As did happen fairly often at the time, the brothers married two sisters: Alfred married Denise and young Edmond Magdeleine Hiart. The latter, the new owner, was not a hard worker like his elder brother, he preferred golf and hunting to the running of the family business. He would mainly deal with the department of research and development of millstones, leaving the management side to his nephew.

At the end of the thirties, three generations were living in Maison Autrique: Edmond and Magdeleine were grand-parents, and shared their home with their children and grand-children not forgetting the youngest’s nanny.

Through inheritance, the house remained the property of the Duchateau-Hiart family from 1907 to 1986 but its members would only live in it just over thirty years, all told. for, along with many people in Belgium, Edmond and Magdeleine Duchateau took to the roads upon its invasion in June1 1940. They abandoned the house to take refuge in Brittany, in Carnac; on their return, a few months later, they settled in Watermael-Boitsfort, south of Brussels, preferring its more airy environment to Chaussée de Haecht. The Maison Autrique would remain empty from that date to 1943.