The Diamond Palace will be designed in 1905 by Guilaume Segers on behalf of Léon-Bejai-Dejonge. The complex will be used in 1906 until 1924 as a party and performance hall and a little later as a Pathé cinema.
After the death of the previous owner in 1924, Fernand Dierckx buys the building. He changes the name to Pantheon Palace to turn it into a trendy dance hall.
But in 1929, the banquet hall belongs to a canon. he commissions architect Léon Denis to carry out some adaptation works. The association "Association des Oevres Paroissiales" from Saint-Gilles ensures that the whole is transformed into a meeting place of Saint-Gilles until 1981(Ægidius). The name is changed to Aegidium, a reference to the patron saint of the city.
In 1956, architects Jean Hendrickx and Yves Stevens will create a vertical division of the polygonal conference room in neo-Rococo by adding a concrete ceiling.
This break in style would be reversed in the renovation. Only the first floor would be used occasionally until 1985.
Gradually, however, the imposing aging building began to need a thorough overhaul and was forced to close in 1985. However, the VZW Parochial Works and the local government never gave up hope of restoring the building to its former glory as soon as possible.
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