Gransvelde Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Gransvelde estate, in Wetteren, first appears in 1696 under the names ‘De Saele’ or ‘Achterste kasteel’. Acquired in 1763 by Jean Philippe Vilain XIIII, mayor of Ghent, it then comprised a motte farm, a country house, an orchard and gardens surrounded by a pond. Around 1800, the architect Jean-Baptiste Pisson designed an Empire-style château with two projecting wings, of which only the west wing seems to have been built. Marie-Charlotte Van de Woestyne, widow of Charles Joseph François Vilain XIIII (died 1808), had the orangery built; her collections of 555 plant species were sold in 1828. In 1857, August Van de Woestyne took over the estate and, around 1860, extended the château with an east wing, then had a landscape garden laid out to a plan by Fuchs (1870). Passed in 1878 to Count Emiel de Liedekerke, then in 1905 to a Baron de Kerchove d’Exaerde, who made it his summer residence, the château, occupied by the Germans, was destroyed by fire when they left in 1944. The orangery, the gardener’s house and the coach house (1861), the historic approach from the Parklaan and part of the park survive.