One castle, going relatively cheap.
A stately home just nine miles north of Brussels has hit the market for an undisclosed sum somewhere between $8.03 million and $10.71 million, its current owner, venture capitalist Benjamin Van Oudenhove, told Mansion Global.
Currently the property is defined by an 120-year-old edifice named Castle Overschie, but the estate dates much earlier than Overschie’s 1904 construction, all the way back to the 15th century, when it was a quarry owned by a local monastery.
At the time, the monks of the Abbey of Grimbergen engaged in the Belgian art of brewing beer — the operation was later confiscated during the French Revolution, according to Van Oudenhove’s research.
Then, during World War II, the castle was occupied by the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s notorious air force, Van Oudenhove — who bought the castle in 2013 from the noble family who’d owned it for over 150 years — told the publication. “On the day of the liberation of Brussels, it was the Norwegian air force that liberated the castle,” he said.
Today, the neoclassical stone building offers a variety of opulent original details, as well as modern comforts. In all it offers 15 bedroom suites, eight bathrooms, two dressing rooms, a laundry room, two kitchens, several fireplace-equipped lounges and a sumptuous entrance hall.
In addition to the over 21,000 square foot primary structure, there is also a caretaker’s house and coach house on the more than 10-acre lot.
The grounds include a tennis court, orchard and parking for more than 30 cars.
As for why Van Oudenhove is selling: “I thought I would never separate from [this] house, because I put so much of myself in it,” he explained to Mansion Global. “But then came an opportunity presented to me by Sotheby’s to buy another major property, also not that far, with which I had a family link…My family worked and lived on that property.”
Castle Overschie is listed with Veerle Viérin of Belgium Sotheby’s International Realty.