De Viron Castle

Dilbeek, Belgium, Belgium

---

De Viron Castle (Dutch: Kasteel de Viron, French: Château de Viron) is a distinctive neo‑Tudor/Renaissance Revival castle in the town centre of Dilbeek, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, at Kasteeldreef 1, and since 1923 it has been the town hall and administrative offices of the municipality of Dilbeek, a function it still serves today, while the building itself is a protected monument since 1990.

It was built in 1862 by the architect Jean‑Pierre Cluysenaar for Théodore de Viron, who had bought the estate and an older 14th‑century water castle in 1787; the older castle was demolished in 1862, and Cluysenaar designed a fairy‑like, highly decorative building in a mix of neo‑Tudor, neo‑Gothic and neo‑Renaissance styles, with red‑sandstone façades, corner towers, pear‑shaped roofs, stepped gables, arched friezes and numerous small turrets, and a symmetrical plan with nine bays and two storeys under a gable roof.