Brick factory and villa Angelbeck.

The mesh clay is very suitable for the manufacture of bricks. That is why Sjang Clevers is building the brick factory in Heukelom. This creates employment for the population in Afferden and the surrounding area. It seems that business is going well, because at that time Sjang Clevers also built the Angelbeck house, popularly known as “the villa”.

The prosperity is short-lived. In 1924, the bankruptcy of the brick factory in the name of J. Clevers-Hohnrath, the wife of Sjang Clevers, is declared. The factory is taken over by Messrs. Boerland and Van de Kun and continued under the name “Nuance”.

It is not clear what the purpose of the house has been in the following years. In 1931 a fire breaks out in the villa and it burns down completely. Some time later, a merchant from Voorburg, owner of “Slot Angelbeck” as it is called in the newspaper for several years, is on trial for incitement to arson. It is likely insurance fraud.
The newspaper reported in the same year: “The burnt-down villa “Angelbeck” will be built up by the contractors Verstegen and Van Oijen, here …”. Over the years, there have been various plans for the building: agricultural college, official residence for the mayor and relaxation area “… in the spirit as hotel “De Plasmolen””. However, none of the plans are being implemented and the building has been empty for a long time.

Sjang Clevers continues to live in Afferden and has been for many years
prominent (board) member of the fanfare band and also alderman of the municipality of Bergen (1922-1935).
The couple apparently have no children (reportedly only an adopted daughter) and Maria Hohnrat is committed to foreign children. In 1924 she was awarded the Red Cross by the Austrian government.

When Afferden and its surroundings come to lie in the front line in the autumn of 1944 and come under fire from the other side of the Maas, the villa is destroyed. This brings an end to the relatively short and unfortunate existence of this imposing building. Sjang Clevers and his wife die in October 1944 as a result of war violence. They then live in Venray, but die in Venlo, perhaps in the hospital there. Sjang dies on October 13, 1944 and his wife shortly afterwards on October 24. The profession of Sjang Clevers is indicated in the death certificate: crisis officer.

Only four pillars of the access road remind of the past and around 1958 a farm is built on this place. This year, the pillars will be in the news when they have to be moved for the construction of a new bicycle path.

In the photo from 1919 villa Angelbeck with in the insert Sjang Clevers and his wife in the garden of the villa.

Source: http://afferden-limburg.nl/steenfabriek-en-villa-angelbeck/