This surprising castel, built between 1867 and 1869 in Flemish neo-Renaissance style by Ghent architect Florimond Vandepoele, holds a rich story. Commissioned by Auguste Beckers, a wealthy lawyer, it was sold in 1898 to banker Charles-Henri Dietrich, the future Baron of Val-Duchesse. He left his mark on the building inside and out, with the help of architect Edmond De Vigne and decorative painter Jean Van Holder. The mainly neo-Gothic decoration on the ground floor refers to the history of the site and evokes a forgotten Woluwe. Old coats of arms and colourful stained glass complete the rich interior.
In 1903, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart from Lille, expelled from France, bought the estate from Dietrich. The following year, they opened a boarding school and enlarged the complex with annexes, including an imposing neo-Gothic chapel by Julien Walckiers (1914-1919). The ancestor of today’s Institut du Sacré-Cœur de Lindthout was born. The castel itself, home to the sisters until 1998, has largely preserved its early 20th-century interior decoration. Since 2000, it has found new life as the home of Woluwe’s Academy of Music, Dance and Speech Arts. (Listed since 04/09/2002)