Brasschaat | $1.39 million (€1.295 million)
A four-bedroom, two-bath house from 1938 with a thatched roof in the Antwerp suburb of Brasschaat
Built in 1938 on about half an acre, this four-bedroom villa with a thatched roof is in Brasschaat, a municipality in northern Belgium about nine miles north of Antwerp and 10 miles south of the border with the Netherlands. Luxury homes, villas, and estates dot the landscape in Brasschaat, which has a town park with a restored castle, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, tennis, an indoor swimming pool and a lake with paddle boats. The Gunfire Museum, an international military museum, displays tanks, artillery and other war artifacts from the last century. Thermal spas abound. Restaurant Maurice, which received a 2024 Michelin mention, serves carpaccio langoustine and oxtail.
The ride from Brasschaat to the center of Antwerp takes about 45 minutes via the 640 bus line. Other options include a tram or metro.
Size: 3,294 square feet
Price per square foot: $422
Indoors: Just inside a side entrance of this storybook thatch-roofed villa are a powder room, laundry, and stairs to the basement. Straight ahead, two steps lead to the entrance hall’s patterned black, beige and white tile. Black-framed double glass doors open to a modern interior.
The dining room has double doors leading to an unused front door, a nod to the house’s roots as a two-family abode. At the opposite end, double doors with decorative transoms open to the backyard. The adjoining living room also has decorative doors that fold back, opening to the garden. A wood-burning fireplace with a glass facade is on one wall.
The kitchen has a double farm sink, black-painted wood cabinets, an open pantry and black granite countertops. A curved breakfast nook is in one corner.
From the side entry, a wood staircase turns at a landing with four small curved windows. Two of the three bedrooms on the second floor share a hall bath. The en suite primary bedroom has a chandelier-lit dressing room with a center island and a bathroom with a floating double vanity, black mosaic tile, a glass-enclosed shower and a bathtub on a black tiled floor. A double-size bedroom on the third floor is used as an office and guest room.
Outdoor space: A long gravel driveway leads from the automatic gate to the side entrance and continues to a backyard carport. The backyard has terraces, a small enclosed gazebo, a playhouse, a shaded hot tub, a wooden deck, a dining pavilion, and an attic playroom reachable by ladder in the carport.
Costs: Annual property taxes of €2,874 ($3,080)
Contact: Dennis Leemans, Engel & Völkers Brasschaat, dennis.leemans@engelvoelkers.com, engelvoelkers.com +32-3-658-12-00
Markgrave | $1.34 million (€1.25 million)
A turn-of-the-century, eight-bedroom rowhouse in Markgrave with a brick patio
This eight-bedroom, five-bath townhouse was built in 1900 in Markgrave, a well-to-do residential area southeast of Antwerp’s city center.
Stately houses and grand buildings, many from the early 20th century, line Markgrave’s roads. Green spaces and parks abound, including Middelheimpark’s sculpture garden, and tree-lined Brilschanspark, with walking and cycling paths, a playground, an artificial lake, and a dog park. Nachtegalenpark has mature trees, a playground and a restaurant.
Across from the townhouse is Brusketta, a popular Italian restaurant. Nearby Domestic, a popular bakery is known for its baguettes, creamy croissants and High Tea. The Royal Conservatory of Antwerp is nearby.
Several tram and bus lines run through Markgrave, making Antwerp’s city center and other neighborhoods easily accessible. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the Antwerp Zoo, the Central Station or the Diamond District, and 20 minutes to the Meir, a popular shopping district.
Size: 3,875 square feet
Price per square foot: $345
Indoors: Decorative wrought iron doors open to a vestibule and an inner glass door to a mosaic-tiled side hall with marble wainscoting. The adjacent living room has a parquet wood floors, a fireplace with a white marble mantel, decorative wainscoting with embellished walls, crown moldings and a 12-foot ceiling.
An ornate glass transom heralds the dining room. A black-and-white marble mantel is centered on one wall, and its fireplace is closed off.
The railroad-style kitchen has brown cabinetry and white stone countertops with subtle veining. The adjoining breakfast room has a brown tile floor. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a greenhouse-like roof span the back of the house. A powder room and laundry are off the kitchen.
The second floor has three bedrooms, each with a marble mantel and parquet floors. They share two full baths, each with a shower, a white vanity, a commode and a brown tile floor. A mezzanine level has a full bath, a bedroom, a polyurethane cast floor and French doors to a curved Juliet balcony. The third floor has three bedrooms with marble mantels, parquet floors, and two baths. The top floor has two bedrooms and one bathroom.
The windows were recently replaced, except for the original glasswork in the entrance, and the kitchen and bathrooms were redone.
Outdoor space: Separate doors from the breakfast room open to a walled brick patio edged with shrubbery.
Costs: Annual property taxes of €1,621 ($1,737).
Contact: Femke De Cauwer, femke@immobib.be, +32-3-230-59-39, Immo BIB
Wijnegem | $1.37 million (€1.28 million)
A three-bedroom home from 2018 in a converted grain distillery in the town of Wijnegem
This three-bedroom duplex was built in 2018 on the two-acre site of a former grain distillery about five miles east of Antwerp, on the border of three upscale towns: Wijnegem, Schoten and ’s-Gravenwezel.
Wijnegem is home to a mall with 250 shops and restaurants, the largest in the Benelux political-economic union nations of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg The designer Axel Vervoordt has an arts, interior design and antiques gallery on Wijnegem’s mixed-use Kanaal site.
Both ’s-Gravenwezel and Schoten, just south of Belgium’s border with the Netherlands, have historic castles, villas with large, well-maintained gardens and emerald grass, country estates, nature reserves, farmland, open countryside and forests.
The Michelin farm-to-table restaurant Hertebos in s’Gravenwezel adds to the idyllic setting. Highly rated schools, golf clubs, tennis clubs, riding stables, and high-end boutiques add cachet.
Size: 2,368 square feet
Price per square foot: $579
Indoors: The duplex is reached via a ground-level door that leads to a cement staircase.
The living area has an oak parquet floor, oversized windows, and a glass-fronted corner gas fireplace. Extending onto a terrace, a glass-enclosed garden room with a wood plank floor is heated for year-round use.
A poured, polished cement floor distinguishes the kitchen. Gray and beige square tiles provide a backdrop for the thin, cream-colored counter encasing two rows of brown drawers. An electric cooktop is at the center of the countertop. Slats of wood separate the kitchen from the living area. Three brass pendant lights illuminate a breakfast bar that accommodates four stools.
Brown ceiling-to-floor cabinets merge with colorful translucent squares camouflaging a wooden staircase to the second level. A powder room is by the entrance.
Upstairs, the three bedrooms have wood floors. The primary includes an en suite dressing room. Its bathroom walls are covered with gray Mortex, a decorative plaster. The second bedroom’s bathroom has a walk-in shower. A laundry room is also upstairs.
Outdoor space: Sliding glass doors in the living room reveal a private 1,345-square-foot terrace with views of the surrounding forests and meadows. In the corner, a night-lit heated swimming pool has two jets. Solar panels are on the roof.
Costs: Annual property taxes of about (€2,160) $2,315. Monthly maintenance fees are approximately $367.
Contact: Jordy Moeskops, jordy.moeskops@hillewaere.be +32-492-63-86-12- christiesrealestate.com +32-3-337-38-34
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