Hontzocht Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Hontzocht Castle, in Beernem (West Flanders), is a historicist residence built in 1938 by the Bruges architect Maurice Vermeersch for Baron Paul de Giey-Parmentier. Conceived as a moated castle, it rises within a rectangle of moats crossed by an arched bridge with brick parapets, with the residential wings to the south, an inner courtyard, a gatehouse to the east and, to the north, an arcade extended by a pseudo-chapel. Built in herringbone brick, originally painted white, with sandstone surrounds, it has an irregular plan animated by bay windows and turret volumes; the ground-floor rooms are fitted out with reclaimed materials. According to tradition, it copies the Hontzocht Castle of the Giey family at Lembeek, which was destroyed by fire, but the inventory finds no trace of it other than the name of a street. The castle occupies the axis of the central avenue of a large wooded area with rabattes (cleared avenues) from the late 18th or early 19th century, of which the north-eastern avenue and one corner disappeared in 1937 with the construction of the E40. The estate has been listed as a recorded built heritage site since 14 May 2024.