Hof te Melis

En un regard

Le château en bref

Hof te Melis, at Kasteeldreef 32 in Lippelo (Puurs-Sint-Amands), is a moated castle in the neo-Flemish Renaissance style, built of red brick with white stone trim. It has an L-shaped plan dominated by a tall central tower, with stepped gables, dormers and round towers with conical roofs. The site is first mentioned in 1448 under the name Melisheim, as a fief of the lords of Grimbergen. In the eighteenth century it passed to the de Beughem de Houtem family, who held it until 1961. In 1914 the German army occupied the estate, which came under fire from the Bornem fort and was partly set alight; the castle was rebuilt in 1920 to a plan different from the original. The estate also includes a carriage house, a farm, an ice house, a garden pavilion and a chapel on the roadside. The interior retains parquet floors, mosaic floors and stucco ceilings. The landscape of Hof Ter Melis has been protected as a cultural and historical landscape by ministerial order of 28 June 1984, and the castle has been listed in the Flemish Inventory of Built Heritage since 2019. As a private residence it is not open to visitors, but it can be seen from public paths, especially in winter and spring.