En un regard
Le château en bref
The Kasteel De Patente is a former fief of Bruges located at Blankenbergse Steenweg 120, in the district of Sint-Pieters-op-de-Dijk. The fief is first mentioned in the mid-16th century as an ‘opperhof’ with a country house surrounded by moats and a farmyard to the south. Its origins may date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Put up for sale in 1841, it is described as a castle in 1845. The owner probably had a new country house with outbuildings built inside the enclosure after the sale. In 1890, the Bruges composer Karel Mestdagh had it remodelled to designs by the architect René Buyck, with a new brick facing, stepped gables and a monumental roof. The brick façades have five bays, and the south façade is a tall stepped gable of four bays. The interior retains mid-19th-century salons, with marble fireplaces and floral wallpaper, and, under the roof, a barrel-vaulted room, probably Mestdagh’s former music room. Two neoclassical outbuildings and a lodging on the road side, perhaps a remnant of the former De Patente inn and possibly with a core dating to the 17th century, complete the site. Restored in 1997 to designs by Jos Strubbe, who added a new wing, the castle now houses a serviced residence of 25 apartments.
