Steytelinckpark

Antwerp, Belgium, Belgium

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Steytelinckpark is a pleasant public park in Wilrijk, a district of Antwerp, Belgium, situated behind Saint Bavo’s Church and opening onto the Alfons Wellensstraat.

The park was created from the former gardens of Steytelinck, a historic estate whose neoclassical castle, with an older core dating back to around 1521–1522, was originally built as a pleasure house or “lusthof” and later enlarged and romantically landscaped in the 19th century.

After the local fortifications and railway construction caused the estate’s original ponds to dry up, the grounds were re‑designed and in 1929, following a new layout by architect V. De Bosschere, the 10 hectares acquired by the municipality were officially opened to the public as a park, with a naturally shaped pond, open lawns, solitaire trees such as a swamp cypress and a trumpet tree, and a small wooded area. 

A large neoclassical 19th‑century castle in a U‑shape, with lower staggered stables along the street, was bought by the district of Wilrijk in 1967, restored and opened in 1975; it has housed a cultural centre, a local history museum operated by the Wilrica heritage association and a restaurant, and even after a serious fire in 2013 and several years of vacancy it remains a notable landmark within the park, while the grounds themselves offer a pond where ducks, geese and seagulls swim, a children’s playground and play pit, a small civil cemetery with World War II graves, and a calisthenics / outdoor fitness area at Dokter Donnyplein.