En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château d'Ast (Kasteel van Ast) stands in Goetsenhoven, a district of Tirlemont (Flemish Brabant), in the former hamlet of Ast, north-west of the village. Gustaaf Vandenschilde, a Tirlemont wine merchant originally from Goetsenhoven, assembled twelve adjoining plots there between 1861 and 1865 and, in 1864, had built one of the first eclectic country houses in the region. The residence has ten bays over two storeys, built of brick on a bluestone plinth under a slate roof, with asymmetrical projecting bays, a crenellated tower, a wrought-iron balcony, a veranda of coloured glass and decorative interior stuccowork. A five-bay orangery-coach house completes the ensemble. In 1917, Gaston Philips, a Brussels-born stockbroker, remodelled the house and added corner projecting bays beneath tall hipped roofs. The château and its park have been protected as a village site since 1981, and two trees in the park (a giant sequoia and a California torreya) are protected as monuments. The Flemish inventory has recognised it as established architectural heritage since 2021.