En un regard
Le château en bref
Walbos Castle stands on the Walbosdreef, in Destelbergen, to the south of a serpentine pond that structures the whole estate. The present mansion dates from 1892: the De Keyser family had it built in place of an older manor house, probably from the first half of the nineteenth century, which stood a little further to the south-east and has since disappeared. Of this earlier state, the pond survives most clearly. It was dug around the middle of the nineteenth century in the bed of the Loopsloot, and it surrounds an island connected to the north bank by a small footbridge, an arrangement that recalls a former castle mound, although the island was never inhabited.
The castle belongs to the Flemish Neo-Renaissance movement. Built of brick and bluestone on a high stone plinth, it has two storeys above a basement, on a roughly rectangular plan, and is topped by a steep slate roof in the form of a truncated pavilion, from which rise stepped gables and dormer windows. A balustraded perron leads to the entrance door, framed in the Renaissance taste; above it, two stones bear the inscription ‘Anno 1892’. The adjoining bay forms a projecting section extended by a tower with a tall spire, while a slender octagonal stair turret closes the left corner of the façade. Rusticated quoins and decorative wall anchors complete the ornamentation; on the garden side, a corner portico with small columns supports a terrace edged with a balustrade.
The estate, covering about 6.5 hectares, is laid out as a landscape park with winding avenues. The whole is listed in the Flemish inventory of architectural heritage: the castle has been recorded as established architectural heritage since 2009 and, since 20 June 2023, together with its park.
