Leopold Barracks

Leopold Barracks. Enormous military complex in eclectic style designed by architect Modeste de Noyette, built between 1902 and 1906 on the site of the former infantry barracks of Kattenberg, demolished in 1830 as it obstructed the view of the city from the citadel. Various buildings set in a pentagonal layout bordered by Caspar de Craeyerstraat, Kattenberg, Kunstlaan, Charles de Kerchovelaan, and Eekhout. True fortress construction of brick and natural stone on a heavy rubble stone plinth, with abundant use of hard stone for outlining corner blocks, window crosses, and niche surround, along with a bordering walking path with a battlement row at the roofline. The frequent use of towerettes, crenellated walkways, almost blind walls with heavy buttresses, and sporadic breakthroughs give the whole structure a castle-like allure. Main building on Caspar de Craeyerstraat with a central gatehouse featuring three stories under a mansard roof (slate). Horseshoe-shaped passageway with flanking guardhouses topped with a lion, provides access to a rectangular honor square surrounded by three brick courtyards, each marked by a central section that rises higher under a mansard roof. The emphasized corner pavilions on the street side are connected by single-story wings with blind outer walls featuring cut buttresses and a crowning row of crenellations. The truncated corner building at the intersection of Kunstlaan and Charles de Kerchovelaan, constructed entirely from iron-rich natural stone, is flanked by two round corner towers with octagonal overhanging tubs under a pointed roof.

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