En un regard
Le château en bref
On the edge of Vilvoorde (Peutie), Perk and Melsbroek, Huyenhoven Castle, often spelt Huinhoven, borders the northern fringe of the Floordambos. It was built in 1860 for Dr Charles Rayé of Vilvoorde. A sales poster of 1867 attributes the design to Antoine Trappeniers (1823–1887), later the architect of Vilvoorde Town Hall, but this neo-medieval Romanticism contrasts with the austere Classicism usually associated with that architect. The building, with its rendered façades and slate roofs, is dominated by a square keep with bands of arcading and a terrace-belvedere, flanked by a small round corner turret with a conical roof. The inscription ‘Château de Huyenhoven’ surmounts the entrance door. A farm in a traditional style, built about a hundred metres to the east, completes the estate, which is surrounded by a landscaped park of nearly seven hectares, laid out as a river landscape with a serpentine pond, probably by Louis Fuchs and completed in 1892. After Rayé's death in 1867, the estate passed to Joseph T'Sas and then, in 1883, to Adolphe de Ribaucourt; it was divided into several properties after 1990. It has been recognised as built heritage since 2021 and lies within the protected Floordambos landscape.
