Maison de Viron
THE ABANDONED HOUSE IN BELGIUM
This ‘Mortagnekasteel’ or ‘Chateau La Mortagne’ is also known as ‘Maison de Viron’. The abandoned building used to be a country house in cottage style. ‘Viron’ refers to the noble family who built it and lived there for years. The couple had five children.
Shortly before the First World War, Baron Maurice de Viron bought a barn that was converted into a home around 1923. While living in the barn they built ‘Maison de Viron’ in 1928. The country house is located in a park in the Belgian village Bellegem. The park road, which runs through the green domain of the Viron family, connects the old barn, the villa and the Viron farm.
Typical of the country house are the yellow-orange bricks, the various dormer windows and level differences. Furthermore, the front and the back are almost identical, each with an entrance in the middle and a staircase behind it. Furthermore, the house has a huge basement that was used as a wine cellar.
Isabelle de Viron
The baron died in 1931 at the age of 60. During the Second World War the country house was used as a war hospital by the baroness. In 1967 the 84-year-old baroness Maguerite de Viron also died. Isabelle, the youngest and the only unmarried daughter, stayed alone in the house until 1980.
The converted barn where the family lived before was converted into two apartments in 1980. One apartment became a new home of baroness Isabelle de Viron. The old country house was abandoned and has never been inhabited again. In 2011 Isabelle de Viron died and ended the story of the De Viron family on this domain. Eventually works on the villa started in 2020. I visited the derelict building in 2007.
