The non-profit organisation, Cercle de Lorraine, was founded on 5 March 1998 on the initiative of the Brussels publisher and property developer Stéphan Jourdain. The Cercle got its name from the originally chosen location: the Drève de Lorraine (tree-lined avenue) in Uccle.

There is a property of about four hectares at number 41 of this prestigious avenue, where the elegant mansion, La Viola Cornuta, was built at the instigation of the Dutch industrialist, Stokvis, in 1910. The estate had been unused for 12 years when its owner, the insurance company AG decided to put it up for sale in 1997

The site underwent thorough renovation with a view to installing the Cercle there, with a planned inauguration date of 23 April 1998, which went ahead, in spite of a fire that seriously damaged the building during the night of 1 to 2 April 1998. Given the scale of this catastrophe, the management of the future Cercle de Lorraine had to make a choice between two alternatives: either postpone the start of the Cercle’s activities for an indeterminate period – i.e. the time needed to rebuild La Viola Cornuta – or find another site at very short notice. The management went for the second option. 

  Le Château Fond'roy

      At a short distance from the Drève de Lorraine, on the other side of the Chaussée de Waterloo, stands the Château Fond’Roy, also purchased in 1997 by Stéphan Jourdain, who intended to resell it. This estate was acquired from Marshal President Founder Joseph Désiré Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Nbengu Waza Banga (English translation: ‘the invincible cock that doesn’t leave any chicken alone). Mobutu bought it when – after ruling the former Belgian colony of the Congo, an area 24 times the size of Belgium, with an iron fist for 32 years – he was forced to go into exile to Rabat on 17 May 1997, having been chased from power by the guerrilla leader Laurent Désiré Kabila.

     The Château Fond’Roy was completed in 1910, one year after the death of Leopold II, king of the Belgians, who had ordered its construction for one of his close relatives. The estate then passed to the Poelaert family (relatives of the celebrated architect who designed the Palais de Justice in Brussels), before going to the Vermeulen family. The latter sold it to the insurance company Royale Belge in 1948, who turned it into its sports centre (it must have been written in the stars that the Cercle de Lorraine would be established in the former sports centre of a Belgian insurance company in Uccle) before it was sold to President Mobutu in 1973.

     An amusing anecdote: the person who signed the deed of sale for the building in the presence of the notary Snyers d’Attenhoven in Brussels was none other than Jacqueline Devleeschouwer, wife of Pierre Davister, long-time confidant of Mobutu. It was Davister who lent him the money to create an illustrated weekly called Spécial – which was looking to compete with the now-defunct weekly Pourquoi Pas. The satirical weekly PAN rechristened Spécial ‘The Bush Echo’ or, depending on the circumstances, ‘His Negro’s Voice’.
 
     Between 1 and 23 April 1998, the furniture and personal belongings that Mobutu had sold with the estate were cleared out of the Château Fond’Roy. During his hasty departure from power, his Belgian office was not given any instructions on removing the contents of the building, so all of the fallen dictator’s furniture, personal wardrobe, archives, wine cellar and car park were still there. Also, during the three weeks between the unfortunate fire in the Drève de Lorraine and the inauguration of the Cercle, the craftsmen and other building professionals who came to finish La Viola Cornuta went back to work harder than ever and, displaying great commitment, worked on Saturdays, Sundays, during the night and at Easter in order to transform this prestigious residence into a shrine capable of hosting the activities of the Cercle de Lorraine. Well done!  

     Later on, the members of the youthful Cercle de Lorraine, who were happily ensconced at Fond’Roy, asked the Cercle’s management not to move to La Viola Cornuta in the Drève de Lorraine, which was being renovated, contrary to our initial plans. With the intention of acceding to their request, it was decided to stay at Fond’Roy, which was drastically altered and redecorated while always attempting not to disturb the Cercle’s activities
 
     As for La Viola Cornuta in the Drève de Lorraine, a project run jointly with the British Whitbread group was completed in 2004, resulting in the creation of a large and prestigious sports centre with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, day nurseries and other comfortable facilities that facilitate numerous sports activities, especially for the members of the Cercle de Lorraine, who can use the sports centre on preferential terms.
 
     The inauguration of the Cercle de Lorraine on 23 April 1998, in the presence of more than 800 of its 1000 registered members, was a brilliant success. Well done!

The new head of the Cercle

     Situated in the heart of the capital of Europe, the former palace of the Princes de Merode (2800 m2 available to members instead of 800 m2 at Fond’roy) has undergone a luxurious renovation and major conversion to make it suitable for the specific needs of the Cercle’s members.

     In what had been a fiefdom of the Duchy of Brabant since the Middle Ages, Duke Alexandre de Bournonville and his wife Anne de Melun converted several buildings they owned on the Wollendries (currently the Rue aux Laines) into a vast Renaissance-style palace in 1618. In the eighteenth century, the heirs of the Duke de Bournonville sold the property to the Counts de Merode-Westerloo, who had been elevated to princes, who then sold it to a real estate company in 1954. The latter handed the keys to this exceptional site to the Cercle de Lorraine in 2008, aware of the fact that our organisation was best suited to restoring the Palais de Bournonville to its former glory.