Chateau Rouge, Wallonia, Belgium, April 2018

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

HughieD

Super Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Supporting Member
Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Messages
5,532
Reaction score
11,133
Location
People's Republic of South Yorkshire.
1. The History
Not too much info around about this lovely rural chateau nicknamed “Château Rouge” (a.k.a. red Castle) and one derived from the red painted brick. It is situated below the Tihange Nuclear Power Station and is just on the outskirts of the Tihange Forest. One thing that is for certain, however, is that it was built in 1889 in a park of 7 hectares. The eclectic brick and limestone construction was erected for the Lattre family replacing a castle of the XVII century, destroyed after a fire. The original castle on this site was built around 1100 and was owned by a religious community. There were 12 clerics living in this castle. In 1760 one of the abbots spent more time in this castle than at the monastery and rebuilt the castle, spending more money than the monastery could afford. In 1768 the Prince-Bishop cancelled the authority of the abbot allowing him a pension of 1500 florins so he could stay at the castle. Just before the French revolution in 1768, the castle was then sold to the Abbey Saint Laurent. Over the next few years several families bought the castle, but over the years the buildings fell more and more into decay. In 1885 the castle was demolished and a new castle is built at the same site. Some old walls and two of the original fireplaces were saved and used in the newly built castle. In 1891 the Flemish renaissance styled castle was ready.

Having served as a family home for over half-a-century, it was then converted into a luxury hotel after World War II. In 1997, Madame Edithe Van den Troost had become the owner and was running the place as an 18-bedroom guest house. See the old website HERE for an insight into what this place used to look like. Apparently at some subsequently it then became a retirement home for the elderly. It was closed in 2009 for financial reasons and has been empty since. It has gone down hill rapidly over the last few years and now is little more than a shell inside. The grounds around the house are used for airsoft at weekends.

Archive pictures:

39659517600_5158a29442.jpgChateau Rouge 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27596946468_9283cce678.jpgChateau Rouge 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27596904668_2b6fedfacb_z.jpgChateau Rouge 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr


2. The Explore
With Chateau du Noisey’s demolition early last year and Chateau D’Ah gone too this was third choice for a bit of Belgium chateau action. When I first rocked up to this place it was crawling with airsofters in the grounds. Hence it was a complete no-go. Not to be beaten, I revisited early one weekday and I had the palace to myself. Looking back at reports from several years ago it’s sad to see have far this place has gone downhill. Very few of the internal features remain and the interior is now in a very sad and sorry state. Never-the-less this place is worth the effort for the externals alone, hence I was glad I gave the place a second go.

3. The Pictures

The aptly-named chateau comes into view:

27553935148_53d8021e6b_b.jpgimg6530 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553887058_802aa7baf2_b.jpgimg6491 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Full frontal:

40711460704_776ae87a37_b.jpgRed chateau 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr

26554403507_f0aeea2a3b_b.jpgimg6514 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The date stone:

41425672571_249e402910_b.jpgimg6528 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And round the side and back:

41425621081_8f6f860843_b.jpgimg6485 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553919778_44aae9433a_b.jpgimg6518 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The former kitchens area:

39616423080_27538682d1_b.jpgimg6495 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553892568_63583b9ecb_b.jpgimg6494 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39616419390_b609e7c699_b.jpgimg6493 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553881858_7bdef87e9f_b.jpgimg6486 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Obligatory door of hinges:

39616426300_5abfa8dbee_b.jpgimg6498 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Inside, downstairs it is now a bit of a mess:

27553928238_ab1100fab2_b.jpgimg6526 by HughieDW, on Flickr

41425686871_946fd36c56_b.jpgRed chateau 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553930828_f233e8cc1e_b.jpgimg6527 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40711443574_6561ea4b6a_b.jpgimg6525 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Not much left in the way of original features:

40530691175_e0a10e0c56_b.jpgimg6508 by HughieDW, on Flickr

41383546082_acba55c369_b.jpgimg6499 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553898908_3ac807bb14_b.jpgimg6496 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Up-stairs and it doesn’t get much better:

39616438270_8948d51a72_b.jpgimg6507 by HughieDW, on Flickr

26554399137_2bfd63875c_b.jpgimg6506 by HughieDW, on Flickr

26554399047_10ba14ccff_b.jpgimg6504 by HughieDW, on Flickr

This spiral staircase is nice though:

26554394957_564559afee_b.jpgimg6503 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some roof details:

40530702915_9fffaaaca8_b.jpgimg6521 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553883558_79dfde5318_b.jpgimg6490 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40711436304_383c176124_b.jpgimg6519 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39616443730_db21ddfe8a_b.jpgimg6517 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Next to it are some out-buildings used by the airsofters:

39616443270_ac1f38edb7_b.jpgimg6515 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39616438930_5d28154e3b_b.jpgimg6513 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And nearby some stables too:

27553941778_5a85be43b8_b.jpgimg6536 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27553935518_4bc7cdff1a_b.jpgimg6535 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
What a shame that this place is going to ruin. If you compare with the "then" photos by clicking the link you'll see the difference. Clicking on the link I liked what was offered on the menu.
 
What a shame that this place is going to ruin. If you compare with the "then" photos by clicking the link you'll see the difference. Clicking on the link I liked what was offered on the menu.

Tragic innit? I guess 42 Euros for a room was a fair bit back then. Very sad...
 
Nice one Hughie - trip down memory lane for me as I actually met Madame Edithe Van den Troost during our stay in the late '90's. Sadly; even then you could see that although the structure looked good, the old building was beginning to show its age.
 
Nice one Hughie - trip down memory lane for me as I actually met Madame Edithe Van den Troost during our stay in the late '90's. Sadly; even then you could see that although the structure looked good, the old building was beginning to show its age.

Wow...what a small world. Wonder if Madame Edithe is still alive and if she is, what she is up to. She'd be saddened by the plight of her old hotel for sure.
 
Shame the place is badly trashed hughie.but a good comprehensive report covering the site well.looks like you had a good time over there
 
Nice man, lovely exterior and i like the hints of beautiful design you can see within the destruction inside.
 
Oh now thats a real shame she's looking so sad now, glad you persevered and went back for another look HD. A few of us got chased away by the locals with pitch forks a few yrs ago so never even caught any externals so I'm glad to see an update on how the unusual place is coping with the stresses of life...as for DS, some of his comments just blow me away hahaha!

Thanks for the update HD, I really like to see how the places have changed over the years, even if its not what we would like to see, the demo of the other two mansions you mentioned really saddened me as there were shells but still had some lovely features inside like their vaulted ceilings:hopelessness:
 
Wow that has been trashed since I went. We were lucky enough to miss airsofters and angry locals, after a failed visit the year before. That said a couple of locals were certainly providing X rated entertainment in the long grass out back :)
 
always surprises me the volume of good stuff in Belgium I see on the net
Nicely photographed Hughie

Cheers Mr.Wombat. It's rammed with stuff mate. Couldn't get round every on my list and missed a stonking place close by to where we were staying. Got a few more reports to come.
 
14 years ago 42 euros wasn't a fortune but you can see from the 2006 pics that the place was looking very tired and outdated even then. It would have been a fortune to update. I wonder why people just don't sell rather than leave to rot.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top