Petit Château/Het Slotje

   The Petit Château designated the large, crenelated barracks buildings that occupied the site on boulevard Neuvième Regiment de Ligne. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, there existed here a rather modest country manor house and gardens owned by well-to-do bourgeois and known by residents as "Het Slotje" (little castle), a name it retained after the Austrian government bought it in 1775 to install an army garrison. It was demolished in 1848 and replaced by barracks. German troops used it in World War II and, in 1945, it served as a holding center for accused collaborators. Later used as a center for army recruitment and selection, the Petit Château was demolished in 1984.