Château d'Ottignies, 17th-century castle in Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Château d'Ottignies is a 17th-century brick castle, painted white, built around a square tower with three wings: a northern and a western wing of four bays each and a single-bay southern wing. The tower rests on a rubble-stone base and bears iron anchors forming the year 1626. The northern and southern wings end in stepped gables, and the western facade has two neoclassical doors.
The castle began as a fief granted in the 12th century to a family of Ottignies, passing at the end of the 14th century to the Sombreffe family and then to the Spangen. It was burned at the start of the 17th century and rebuilt in 1626, the year carved in iron anchors on the square tower. The Spangen sold it in 1729 to the Palma-Carillo family; the fief was raised to a county in 1737 for A. Bertout de Carillo, held until 1809, and since then it has belonged to the van der Dussen de Kestergat family.
The castle is also called château de l'Étoile. Since 1952 it has been listed with the Saint-Rémi church and the presbytery as a protected monument, and the group appears in Wallonia's inventory of cultural heritage under reference 25121-INV-0029-02. The funeral slab of Guillaume-François Bertout de Carillo, last lord of Ottignies, decorates the church's south facade.
The castle is private and not open to visitors; its exterior can be viewed from the avenues bounding the park, avenue des Combattants, avenue du Roi Albert and avenue des Villas. The building stands on a height above Saint-Rémi church, so the west facade and its neo-classical doors are seen from the garden side.
The castle, Saint-Rémi's church and the presbytery have been listed together as historic monuments since 29 May 1952, under inventory reference 25121-INV-0029-02. The church's south facade holds the funeral slab of Guillaume-François Bertout de Carillo (1738-1810), the last lord of Ottignies.
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