Kasteel Amstenrade

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

MAIN BUILDING (Kasteel Amstenrade). Brick main building consisting of a main wing and a side wing set at right angles to it from the last quarter of the 18th century with on the west corner a square tower, as a remnant of the 17th-century castle. The stately main building, constructed in three storeys above a basement and covered by flat slated roofs running down into sections at the bottom (Maas roofing) - a gabled roof over the main wing and a hipped roof over the side wing - is a fine example of the sumptuous Liège classicism from the end of the 18th century. The house was built by order of the then owner Nicolas Willems to replace the 17th-century castle after a design by the Liège architect Bartholome Digneffe (1724-1784). Due to the sudden death of the owner in the 1780s, the design, which consisted of a main wing and two side wings that were to enclose a square 'cour d'honneur', was not fully executed. Because the right wing was not completed, only part of the underground preserved foundations of which were built up, the house acquired a completely different layout than originally intended. The great hall in the main wing became a reception room and the hall was projected centrally in the side wing.

The walls of the wings are in part articulated by pilasters with triglyphs at the top and are finished with a cornice (with the exception of the short NE side), which is stepped at the height of the pilasters.

The main wing, finished with a cornice, has on its front a central section articulated by four pilasters (with triglyphs at the top) in three bays under a pediment. In the pediment a wheel-shaped window with 12-pane glazing. Between the pilasters are three round-arched doorways in sandstone frames, which are completed upwards in marl and covered by narrow straight mouldings supported by volute consoles. In the round-arched doorway a double door with 10-pane glazing (per door) with a semi-circular fanlight articulated by spokes into 10 panes. On either side of the central section, preceded by a sandstone steps of four treads, a single window bay with on the ground floor a 28-pane segmental arch window in marl frame. On the first and second storey respectively a 24- and 16-pane segmental arch window in marl frame. On the first and last bay a wooden roof dormer with 6-pane segmental arch window. The rear facade has a central section identical to the front facade but not projecting, with identical window arrangements, however without wheel-shaped window in the pediment. The central three round-arched doorways in sandstone date from around 1886, when according to a design by the architect Hendrik Beijaert (1823-1894), from Kortrijk, the current steps with inverted T-shaped flight of steps against the central section were built. The brick steps and the flight, the retaining wall of which on the front curves slightly outward to the sides, are furnished with a marl stone balustrade of chain links with column stumps on the corners. In the short NE side of the steps, the outward-facing corners of which are furnished with marl stone corner blocks, a door; in the short SW side a 6-pane window with iron bars. During a restoration of the house in 1982, on either side of the last-mentioned window a semi-circular entrance to two kennel compartments then also fitted out under the steps was cut into the wall; in front of it a simple iron gate was placed as a property boundary. On either side of the central section on the rear a single window bay with window frames as on the front. The windows in the left bay are blind and the windows in the right bay are identical to the windows on the front. On basement level at the height of the left and right bay a 12-pane window with iron bars.

The tower, which is two storeys higher than the wings, ends in a marl stone attic and a cupola chamfered on the corners and is crowned by a closed lantern with a weathervane. On all four sides the cupola displays a semi-circular roof dormer with a wheel-shaped window with 12-pane glazing. The attic has the form of a mock balustrade, adorned with chain links and decorated on the corners with fluted column stumps. The windows of the tower are in framing identical to those of the wings, with the exception of the oval oculi with 32-pane glazing in straight marl frames immediately below the attic. The marl blocks on the corners of the tower masonry date still from the 17th century, as do the rectangular partially blocked-up windows in sandstone in the provisionally closed NE facade of the main wing. Apart from the ground floor, where the window frames of Empire-style 8-pane windows are provided, the window arrangements are identical to those of the windows of the wings. Furthermore per tower side on basement level two 9-pane segmental arch windows with iron bars and on the third storey two segmental arch windows with 12-pane glazing.

The brick walls of the side wing are decorated on the outer corners with marl stone pilasters with triglyphs at the top; furthermore on the side of the 'cour d'honneur' the end bay of this section is separated from the remaining wall surface by such a pilaster. The facade of the side wing on the 'cour d'honneur' is articulated in five window bays with on the ground floor two double doors with 10-pane glazing (per door) with 8-pane fanlight, located on the central bay (main entrance) and on the bay to the left of it. The doors are preceded by a sandstone steps of four treads. To the left of the doors a single and to the right two windows with 28-pane glazing. On the storey five 24-pane windows and on the second storey five 16-pane windows. On the axis of the first, second and third bay a roof dormer with 6-pane glazing.

Left facade side wing: facade section articulated in two bays with on the ground floor, first and second storey respectively two 28-, 24-, and 16-pane windows. Midway along the facade width a roof dormer with 6-pane glazing.

Facade side wing park side: facade section articulated in seven bays with per bay on basement level, ground floor, first and second storey a window with respectively 9-, 28-, 24-, and 16-pane glazing.

All the mentioned windows and doors of the side wing are segmental arch-shaped and provided with marl frames. The roof dormers are of wood and segmental arch-shaped.

Interiorly: the cellars are vaulted by barrel vaults between elliptical transverse arches, the cellar corridors by segmental arch tunnel vaults, the wine cellar under the forecourt by a fan vault on eight rectangular ribs. In the cellar storey two 17th-century fireplaces with Ionic herms.

The further interior is decorated in a style which forms the transition between the Louis XVI style and the Empire. The ground-floor rooms - in the side wing mostly with stone floors - are arranged in enfilade and accessible through broad double doors. The hall centrally located in the side wing is furnished with wainscoting with reliefs in Louis XVI style. The upper edge of the wainscotings were affixed in the first quarter of the 20th century. To the left behind the hall is a small round room with veined Corinthian pilasters, a 19th-century chimneypiece mantel with between the triglyphs classicistic stucco reliefs and a low stucco cupola, which is painted illusionistically with the interior view of a round cupola and a lantern opening onto the open sky; above four cabinets dessus-de porte with stucco reliefs in early Empire style. To the left of the hall lies a square room with chamfered corners, decorated with a rich Louis XVI wainscoting. To the right behind the hall a stairwell with a Louis XVI staircase. To the right of the hall is a large reception room with Ionic veined wall pilasters. In the adjacent room in the tower chamber a large square room with late 18th-century wallpapers by Pierre Michel de Lovinfosse (1745-1821) after pastoral views by Francois Boucher (recognisable: 'The pleasant lesson', 'Country dance', and perhaps 'The rose bud'). Above the mirror of the chimneypiece mantel furnished with pilasters (19th-century) a moulding adorned with volutes, from which the painting has disappeared. The ceiling in Louis XVI style with a running band and corner fillings with scrolls and arabesques can perhaps be attributed to Mathias Soiron (1748-1834), from Maastricht. (cf. interiors of castle Borgharen, Meerssenhoven at Itteren and Rustenburg at Bunde).

On the axis of the main wing, where the architect Bartholome Digneffe (1724-1784) originally in his design had projected the hall, the large reception room with coffered ceiling and parquet floor with star pattern. To the right in the main wing a room with rich wainscotings in Louis XVI style with, among others, trophy motifs.

On the storey in the main wing a bedroom in Chinese style, where the sleeping space is fitted in an alcove. The outer edge of the alcove is decorated with palm trees and birds in richly painted stucco in high relief. The framing of the mirrors above the chimneypiece mantel in Louis XVI style is inspired by the Chinese architectural decorations fashionable at the time. The wall paintings on canvas are probably by De Lovinfosse and are inspired by Francois Boucher's Chinese works. Thus the painting to the left of the door to the corridor is a combination of his 'View of a Chinese garden' and his 'View in a Chinese market'. The dignitary to the right of the door is taken from Boucher's 'The Chinese dance'. The bedrooms on the storey in the side wing each have an oval alcove with cupola-like stucco covering in Empire style. In the bedroom on the south side of the side wing an oval stucco covering as a 'Chinese' or 'Turkish' tent roof.