Architect Florent Rosmeulen designed these Art Nouveau-style factory buildings in 1909. They originally housed a chocolate factory employing around 100 people. The factory director lived in the nearby castle. Except for a brief interruption during World War I, the factory remained in operation until the mid-1930s. In the lead-up to World War II, the Belgian army moved into the buildings. During the German occupation, the German army took over the building until it was in turn driven out by American liberation troops.

After the war, the building resumed its industrial function when a loom manufacturer was established here. This was succeeded in the early 1970s by a pewter foundry. When the latter consolidated its production in a nearby industrial town, an arts center occupied the building.

The chocolate factory was one of the first buildings in Belgium to be constructed of reinforced concrete. The elongated building is characterized by its higher entrance with its now-famous rose window and, above it, the miter-shaped relief depicting a squirrel.