De Wylerberg

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

Country estate "De Wylerberg": country house with garden, approach drive, forecourt with retaining wall, terraces, orchard, rock garden, gravestone and surrounded by a wooded border. Built in 1921-1924 to the design of the German architect Otto Bartning, member of the architects' correspondence circle "Die gläserne Kette", in German Expressionist architecture. This architectural form from shortly after the First World War exists in essence only as a drawing and has found some following only under the name of anthroposophical or organic architecture among the followers of Rudolf Steiner. The partly basemeneted, whitewashed villa was built as a country residence for the Schuster family on the flank of the Duivelsberg or Wylerberg and belonged to German territory until 1945. The country house is built on a more or less star-shaped plan with projecting sections at the corners and a projecting north facade, with flat-roofed outbuildings (kitchens and garage) without an upper storey on the southwest side. The roof is tiled and comprises a tentdak assembled from irregular three-, four- and six-sided surfaces, fanning out and rising at the raised corners of the projecting corner sections (one corner per outbuilding). This is crowned by a five-sided masonry chimney and a wooden cornice stepping back toward the facade in a stepped manner.

The building has a rectangular outbuilding at the southwest and southeast corner, a trapezoid-shaped outbuilding at the northeast and northwest corner and a triangular projecting north facade, all extending the full height of the building. The rectangular, square and trapezoid-shaped windows, positioned partly symmetrically and partly asymmetrically in the facades, have some with a two- or four-pane division and are set deep within the facade. At the three outbuildings on the north side, where the heavy walls become thinner toward the top, the windows are partly set at an angle (angles between windows > angles between facades) in the facades. At the triangular projecting north facade, flanked on either side by a triangular buttress, the wall piers between the windows on the ground floor and the upper storey are also somewhat rotated (angle between wall piers > angle between facades), on the outside within the facade plane and on the inside stepped out from the apex.

At the main entrance in the west facade the five-sided, glazed double door with external shutters is placed in a five-sided portico that becomes somewhat narrower toward the inside. The inbuilt loggias in the outbuilding at the southeast corner on the ground floor and upper storey were sealed with windows during the 1967 renovation.

Internally the building on the ground floor and upper storey, with a few exceptions of rooms with a rectangular plan, is subdivided into rooms with a polygonal, mainly five- and six-sided plan. In the interior of particular importance are the partly still original detailing, some tilestove tiles, a ceiling painting and the great hall, which on the north side on the ground floor occupies the full width. In the hall are mosaics by Ewald Dülberg. The plan consists of an irregular heptagon in the middle with on either side an irregular pentagon, and which has a ceiling composed of irregular triangles.

At the same time as designing the villa, Bartning also designed the garden. The internal layout of the house, the form of the facades with adjoining platforms or terraces and the hilly landscape (the slopes) dictated to a considerable extent the design of the garden. Existing planting was also made use of. From the service dwelling, a gravel approach drive and rhombus-shaped forecourt were laid out on a platform. To the north of the house lies an orchard in an oval. In the shelter of the house and the slope, terraces with retaining walls were laid out at various levels. Round the house lies the exterior terrace, while half a meter lower lies the trapezoid-shaped terrace serving as a rock garden. From the exterior terrace runs an elongated terrace toward the wood. In the wood lies the gravestone for the Schuster family. The various terraces are accessible by stairs. One staircase goes up the slope toward the sun or tea terrace. The entire garden is surrounded by a wooded border with, among others, sweet chestnut and oak. The garden also contains several specimen trees that characterise the scene.

The present building and surrounding garden are, in particular because of the exterior and plans, because of the relationship between house and garden, because of its situation and because of the interior, a fine, highly representative, virtually intact and rare example of Expressionist architecture from shortly after the First World War and as such of general importance because of its architectural and cultural-historical value.