Château Sainte-Anne: A Classical Country Estate and Private Club in Belgium
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Belgian
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page10 sections
History
Château Sainte-Anne is a country château in Auderghem, Belgium, at the edge of the Sonian Forest in the Brussels-Capital Region. The present building was constructed in 1902 in the Classical and eclectic styles for the textile merchant Charles Waucquez, who commissioned the architect Louis Sauvage. Its history forms part of the transformation of a rural estate into a residence and later into a private club connected with European and diplomatic circles.
From Baudier estate to Château Sainte-Anne
Following property sales during the revolutionary era, the banker Baudier acquired land at a public sale in March 1798. He or his heirs probably built a country house on the property, since a residence appears there on an 1810 map. The first Baudier left in 1821, and his son then inherited the land and house.
The Baudier family retained the property until 1843, when it was sold to Henri de Brouckère, who later became mayor of Auderghem. De Brouckère expanded the estate to 27 hectares and acquired the small Romanesque Sainte-Anne Chapel. The château’s name was probably adopted around this period, in connection with the chapel. A later stage in the chapel’s history came in 1885, when it was transferred to a member of de Brouckère’s family. The chapel has belonged to the Royal Donation, the Belgian state institution that administers property held in that endowment, since 1930.
The estate subsequently passed to the businessman Dujardin-Dansaert and, by 1897, to Madame Dujardin-Dansaert. In 1902, Charles Waucquez acquired approximately six hectares of the property. He demolished the earlier residence and commissioned a new château from Louis Sauvage. The building was placed about ten metres north of its predecessor, allowing its entrance to align with the extension of avenue de Waha.
The Waucquez and Pastur periods
Waucquez died in 1920. His widow then gave the use of the residence to their grandson Jacques Pastur, a Belgian air-force major and aviation commander. The Pastur family later inherited the château. After Max Pastur’s death, much of the wider estate between chaussée de Tervueren, avenue Valduchesse, drève des Deux Moutiers, and rue du Villageois was subdivided. This process created avenues Louis Vercauteren and Roger Hainaut.
Transfer to the Belgian state and club use
On 23 December 1959, the Pastur family transferred Château Sainte-Anne to the Belgian state through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to settle inheritance taxes. The state leased the building to the Maison Européenne de Val Duchesse association, which had been founded in 1961 on the initiative of Belgian and European Community figures.
The association established the International Club Château Sainte-Anne as a forum for cultural and social exchange among the European Community’s member states, NATO members, and diplomatic officials. From 1966, the association assumed full management, and the club reached 2,200 members. In 1996, the Belgian state sold the estate to the Maison Européenne de Val Duchesse association. The Club International Château Sainte-Anne is now the owner, and the château continues to serve as a private club.
Remains
The château and its facade
Entrance facade and water basin
The present château is built in white stone and extends across seven bays, or vertical facade divisions, while its principal arrangement is also described as five bays wide. It rises over two levels on a substantial openwork blue-stone base. The three central bays of the entrance facade project forward and are approached by a broad flight of steps.
The steps stand behind a high retaining wall pierced by circular openings decorated with garlands. In front of them, a broad panel rises above a water basin with a blue-stone rim. Five water jets animate the panel. Four emerge from dolphins, while another flows from the mouth of a bearded, shell-crowned god. His head rests on reeds, his hair supports two laurel garlands, and the falling stream enters another glazed shell. The steps can be reached on foot around the basin or by an asphalt drive.
Windows and upper structure
Semicircular-headed windows line the ground floor and are separated by rusticated pilasters, which are flat, wall-attached supports. The upper windows are rectangular and topped by flat panels carrying garlands. Ionic-capitaled pilasters stand between them. Above, an entablature, the horizontal structure above the supports, and a modillion cornice, a cornice carried by small projecting brackets, support a gallery with Baroque spindle-shaped balusters. This gallery conceals an almost flat roof.
Rear and lateral elevations
At the rear, recessed axial bays balance the projecting central bays of the entrance facade. This composition isolates the two lateral bays and gives them the appearance of towers, an effect reinforced by their gabled pediments. A wrought-iron balustrade, or railing formed from a series of short supports, separates the two levels. The design has evident Versailles influences and was regarded as an architectural counterpart to La Solitude.
Garden structures
The grounds retain a small four-sided pavilion with curved sections and an orangery built of brick and white stone. These surviving structures form part of the estate’s architectural setting alongside the main château.
