Kattenhof Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Kattenhof Castle, also known as Catershof, stands at Sint Jobsteenweg 21-23, in 's-Gravenwezel (municipality of Schilde, province of Antwerp), at the heart of a wooded estate of around 15 hectares. Of medieval origin (15th century), it was extensively remodelled in the 17th century and later took on its 19th-century appearance: an almost rectangular plan in rendered brick, a five-bay west façade beneath a slate mansard roof, a central projecting section with a pseudo-pediment, and an oval tower with a polygonal spire to the north-east, the only part with an older core. Jean Pierre Ernest de Caters bought the estate in 1764; it passed to his descendants, including Baroness Mathilde de Caters (1814-1897), and then to her great-nephew Pierre de Caters, a Belgian aviation pioneer. The castle was surrounded by a moat, filled in on the west side, and was accompanied by a carriage house, a stable dating from 1864, an orangery and a walled kitchen garden. The 19th-century landscape park replaces a formal garden visible on the Ferraris Map. The estate has been a protected cultural landscape since 17 April 1975; the castle has been listed as recorded architectural heritage since 2019.