This eclectic chateau was built in the final quarter of the 19th century by the architect and designer Albert Charle, who was known as Charle Albert and who lived there for only a few years
This eclectic chateau was built in the final quarter of the 19th century by the architect and designer Albert Charle, who was known as Charle Albert and who lived there for only a few years.
Between 1900 and 1914, the building was used as a college for young women from well-to-do families, and was then made available to the emergency services during the Great War by its two English owners, who converted it into a military hospital.
After the war, the “Maison Flamande” (Flemish House) was sold to a succession of private owners who, in turn, sold it in 1933 to the Prime Minister, Paul van Zeeland, who lived there until the start of the Second World War.
Occupied by the German army from 1940 to 1945, the chateau was subsequently recovered by its owner (upon his return from exile in the United States of America), who lived there until his death in 1973.
Abandoned immediately following his death, the chateau became home to squatters and was looted, defaced by graffiti and suffered three separate fires, rapidly falling into a state of ruin (for photographs, do a Google image search of “urbex Charle Albert”) until it was purchased in 1998 by a property developer who unsuccessfully tried to tear it down to build offices in its place.
The building (excluding the interior) was listed in the 1990s by the Royal Commission of Monuments and Sites, and was rebuilt exactly as before by its current owner as part of a massive project which began upon its repurchase in 2012 and was completed in 2015.
The renovation of the building is complete (except for some interior features), while the renovation of the grounds (fencing, flower beds, romantic bridge, lawns, pond, open-air theatre, etc.) has become possible since the granting of the necessary planning permission in January 2017.
The site is listed (and is therefore eligible for renovation subsidies) and is partly located in the “Natura 2000” protection area given its connection to the Sonian Forest.
The entire property is assigned for “office” use, although its current interior layout (non-listed) corresponds to its current use (housing).
A change of use from “office” to “housing” is usually a simple administrative formality, while the reverse is not true. All the more so as, in this case, this exceptional building has always been a dwelling.
http://www.charlealbert.be/