Sypesteyn

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

On foundations excavated from 1901 onwards of the destroyed ancestral castle, rebuilt in phases in a sober 'medieval' style by order of Jhr. C.H.C.A. van Sypesteyn - partly inspired by a drawing by Jan de Beijer from 1749 - with Tower (1912-13, designed by W. de Vrind jr.), 'Gothic House' (1918-20), West Building (1920-22), North Building (1924, main entrance 1927), making as much use as possible of authentic building materials and interior components, and intended as a museum for the patron's private art and antique collections.

The CASTLE-MUSEUM - which according to the original plans would still be extended with a rectangular building on the north side - is constructed in brick on an irregular floor plan with various projecting and recessed building volumes grouped around a more or less central courtyard, partly with a basement and mostly containing two storeys and an attic storey beneath an assembly of gabled roofs, hipped roofs and pyramid roofs with slate tiles in Dutch bond between spout gables and stepped gables. The variously distributed windows set in arches are executed in different formats - partly with cross windows, partly without fanlights, partly with grilles - and have yellow/red coloured shutters at the Tower and the west facade of the North Building; apart from the basement windows, virtually all windows have leaded-glass infills.

The Tower containing four storeys - in which among other things the Armoury Chamber and Tower Room - contains an arch frieze all round, a wall walk with crenellations and waterspouts at the corners, and is crowned by a four-sided spire with two rows of small roof dormers one above the other and a sphere with an escutcheon-bearing weathervane.

The Gothic House containing two storeys and an attic storey - in which among other things the Gothic Chamber, Iron Chamber, Corner Chamber and In-between Chamber - has a stepped gable on the south-west side and in the corner at the courtyard a stair turret covered by a pyramid roof with stone spiral staircase.

Of the three-part and basement-containing West Building - with among other things the Lower and Upper Hall, office, Porcelain Chamber and stairwell - the south-west section contains a stepped gable against which the external access staircase to the piano nobile is built in brick with a balustrade and entrance portico to the basement; the adjacent spout gables further contain ornamental wall anchors, while the side facades are provided with a double toothed course.

The partly completed North Building - with among other things the hall, Green and White Chamber - contains at the northern ends two brick wall dams intended for the extension but incomplete. Against the north-east facade is a brick access stair of five steps between wing walls placed, leading to the originally intended as main entrance pointed-arch panelled door in moulded, natural stone surround. Near the courtyard a tall narrow tower on a ground plan transitioning from circular to octagonal section.

Interiorly most rooms - apart from the barrel-vaulted basement spaces - are provided with wooden floor planking and beam layers and furnished in style or according to theme using the founder's art and antique collection, including the reused historical interior components (such as among other things doors, the seventeenth-century state staircase and chimney pieces).

Castle-museum with associated inventory and interior components, principal building of the Sypesteyn complex and as such of architectural, artistic and cultural-historical importance.