Rood kasteel (Linden)

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Rood Kasteel (‘red castle’), at 29 Diestsesteenweg in Linden (Lubbeek), is a small eclectic country house built between 1860 and 1870 as a country residence for the Louvain brewer Jean-Baptiste Carleer, who continued to live in Louvain. Its name comes from the brickwork, painted red, with white stone for the plinth, corner quoins, string courses and window surrounds. The building, of an almost square plan over three storeys beneath a truncated pyramidal roof, combines Neo-Gothic and Flemish Neo-Renaissance elements. The attribution to the Ghent architect Louis Minard, sometimes put forward, is not supported by any document. It is accompanied by a park of about eight hectares, with two ponds, laid out around the same period. After Carleer’s death in 1879, the estate was acquired in 1881 by Count Jules-Emmanuel de Beauffort, owner of the château in the village of Linden, who merged the two properties into a single ensemble. The nickname ‘Beau Séjour’ does not appear until after 1945, when the house was rented out as a children’s holiday centre. Protected as a monument together with its park, the château is well preserved both outside and inside, and can only be glimpsed through the entrance gate.