Kasteel De Rode Poort

Bruges, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel De Rode Poort is a historic estate in the Sint‑Michiels district of Bruges that today survives mainly as a park and a villa‑like office building rather than as a medieval castle.

The original site, first shown on Pieter Pourbus’s map of the 1560s, was a 15th‑century manor and later a “kasteelhoeve” (castle farm) that changed hands several times and was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt; by the 17th century it was already known as the domain of the lords of Lembeke and appeared on 1685 and 1770s maps with a formal castle and garden.

In 1845 the estate was acquired by Baron Jules de Serret‑van Caloen, and in 1880 the old castle was demolished to make way for a new building set slightly north of the original position, while the park was partly re‑laid in landscape style and a long tree‑lined avenue was created leading towards what is now the Heidelbergstraat.

The 19th‑century coachhouse was built in 1877, and in later decades the castle buildings were converted to office use, with the main house plastered and painted in villa style and the coachhouse heavily restored for the same function, all set within a large park that still contains the Kerkebeek, ponds, a park wood with old avenues and monumental trees, and a vista to the south.