The almost 500-year-old Kasteel van Mesen in Lede, Belgium (built in 1628) has functioned as a castle, a gin distillery, a tobacco factory, &amp; after World War I, a boarding school for girls financed by the Belgian aristocracy. In 1971, after French education was banned in Flemish regions, the school ceased activities and the building was abandoned. It was demolished in 2010.