Goorhof Castle in Belgium, is a castle that is well known by all urbexers. The castle was built in English country style between 1872 and 1876 by the builders Ernest and Julien Dieltjens.
The castle was built for the Antwerp shipbuilder Franz Huger. He had two children, Jules Huger and Maria-Catherina Huger. When Franz Huger died, the castle went to his daughter Maria-Catherina who was married to Henri Oedenkoven. They had a daughter Suzanne. As a thank you that the castle survived the First World War without damage, they had a chapel built in 1921.
In the Second World War, the tower and associated roofs of the castle were destroyed. The castle was restored after the war, but much less beautiful than before. The balconies on the tower disappeared and the tower also became much smaller and taller. The dormer windows were changed and the appearance in the roof ridges disappeared. After Suzanne died, the castle went to her daughter, Solange de Namur, daughter of Charles De Namur and Suzanne Oederkoven. She married Mr. Fernando Sorela Y Del Corral, a Spaniard, and together with him had a son Ramon Sorela de Namur.
When Ramon grew up, he went to Spain to set up a hotel in Marbella. After earning a lot of money, he sold his hotel to restore the castle to what it was like before the destruction in 1944. The plans were announced to the press in 1992. The project had to be ready on Ramon's 50th birthday in 1995. When the project seemed more expensive than expected and the bank turned off the money, the project was stopped in 1995. The castle had to be sold for 48 million francs (1.2 million euros) to the Dutch N.V. Bever Holding.
When fire broke out in 8 different places in February 1999, a large part of the castle was destroyed. Since then the castle has been empty. In 2009, N.V. Bever Holding placed the castle in the hands of broker H. Ceusters in Brasschaat to sell for the castle, which, however, never succeeded. On the night of 28 September 2016, the castle burned down again, leaving only the facades in certain places in the castle. Nothing is yet known about the future of the castle.
