Kwabeek Castle, Manor house in Vertrijk, Belgium.

Kwabeek Castle is a red-brick manor house in Vertrijk, built on a light grey stone base with stone window trim. Its tall dark roof carries dormer windows, two brick chimneys and a small central spire. A lower brick wing with a hipped roof adjoins the right side, and a small projecting entrance with a dark canopy stands to the right of the main block.

First mentioned in the 14th century as a fief of the Duchy of Brabant, the estate was long called Ter Sluizen. In 1630 it was raised to a viscountcy for Octavio Gasparini. The Goupy family added a French garden around 1750 and removed the tower and drawbridge in 1789; after looting in 1794 it stood empty for 16 years. Count Robert de Liedekerke gave it its neo-Renaissance look after buying it in 1893.

The name Kwabeek derives from the medieval lordship of Quabeecke, held by the Van Wezemaal family; Godfried van Wesemael, called ter Quabeeck, acquired the tower, mill and farm at Vertrijk through his marriage to Maria van Verteke. In 1630 Octavio Gasparini had the estate raised to a viscountcy, and the lords of Kwabeek took the title viscount of Quebeeck. The Goupy family, ennobled in 1731 and 1738, laid out a French garden around 1750.

Kwabeek Castle stands on the Velpe in Vertrijk, a sub-municipality of Boutersem in the far south of the Hageland. Since 1980 it has belonged to the Boutersem municipal authority and serves as the town hall. The red-brick house with its light grey stone base, tall dark roof, dormer row and central spire is seen from outside; the grounds lie behind low-clipped hedges.

The castle's name comes from the medieval lordship of Quabeecke, later Kaaibeekhoeve, held by the lords of Wezemaal. Godfried van Wesemael, called ter Quabeeck, acquired the tower, mill and farm at Vertrijk through his marriage to Maria van Verteke, which also gave the estate its older name Ter Sluizen.