White Villa

Around 1825, Cornelis van den Dries, a surgeon and midwife, and his wife Adriana van Gils moved from Woensdrecht to Asten. They lived in this house, which is mentioned here for the first time. After Cornelis’s death in 1835, Adriana continued to live in the house with her children.

Their daughter Antje van den Dries married Jan Bluijssen in 1852, and he moved in with his in-laws. Following the death of their mother-in-law Adriana in 1868, Jan and Antje inherited the property. They extended the house, adding, amongst other things, a warehouse. After their deaths, the house passed to their son Willem Bluijssen. Willem was managing director of the Bluijssen firm and remained unmarried. Shortly after the firm went into liquidation, Willem died in Paris in 1907.

Following Willem’s death, the property was sold to Antonius Franciscus ten Haaf, the head teacher. He let it to various families. From 1910, Mayor Willem Wijnen lived there with his family, until they moved to the new mayor’s residence on Koningsplein in 1921.

Following Ten Haaf’s death in the same year, the house was sold to Johannes Rijsdijk, co-director of the Asten ironworks. Rijsdijk divided the property into numbers 25 and 27 and moved into the larger section, where he continued to live until his death in 1974. The other section was let out. Until recently, the property housed an antiques shop and a gift shop. The property is a listed building.