Maison Loumaye

Known as "château Bodart" from the name of the mayor of Huy and the earl of Perwez who had it built in 1779, this Louis XVI-style house is hidden in the grounds adjoining the château of Bonne-Espérance. In front of the building is a cobbled courtyard accessed by a porch featuring the coats of arms of the Bodarts and edged by the gardener's house and farm outbuildings. The house is in painted brick and limestone on a block base, with two levels decreasing in height and a mansard roof with central dormer and pediment with the date of construction. The entrance in the main façade has steps leading to it and an elegant doorway that occupy a central bay delineated, like each end of the building, by plank pilasters running to the full height of the façade. One outstanding element is the door, decorated with a succession of putti sculpted between other motifs. Very similar to the main façade, the wall facing the park does not have steps, but instead has French windows with a wrought iron railing on the first level of the central bay.

The building is noteworthy for its Louis XVI decoration, consisting of fireplaces and staircase, joinery and panelling, as well as paintings on the walls of the dining room and one lounge. These paintings depict "pastoral scenes" and "chinoiseries". On the first floor, a chapel is concealed in a succession of cupboards.

Building and site (surrounds) listed on 23rd October 1990