Oud Wassenaar

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

Description of component 1: COUNTRY HOUSE.

Introduction

Country house Oud Wassenaar built in Neo-Renaissance style according to a design by C. Muysken from 1876-1879 with a very richly decorated interior executed in various styles, which was already praised by contemporaries. The panelling of the former dining room in Neo-Dutch Renaissance style was awarded the gold medal at an arts and crafts exhibition in Amsterdam in 1877. The construction of the castle was entrusted to the contractors brothers Van Malsen, who also produced the panel panellings of the various style rooms in their steam sawmill of the same name in The Hague. Painter J. Stortenbeker (The Hague) carried out the ceiling and wall paintings in the building, for which Muysken made the designs. In the 1910s the building was extended on the rear side with a hall designed by architect J.J. Brandes. The terraces on either side of the stone staircase at the entrance were also added in the same period. The room layout on the upper floor was slightly altered during the hotel period.

Description

Symmetrical country house in main layout on rectangular plan with various risalits and two round corner towers on either side of the main façade. The building has a basement, two storeys and an attic storey under a composite roof. The steep roof slopes are covered with slates in Meuse and Rhine slating and roof slates in the colours blue, red and green in a decorative mosaic pattern. Along the roof edges and on the ridges attics, balustrades and cast-iron crêtes. The façades are articulated horizontally by band courses, strongly profiled drip mouldings and cornice lines and a surrounding main cornice with neo-renaissance ornaments on the frieze. The horizontal articulation is interrupted and enlivened by the corner towers and the risalits under the steep gables. In the pilaster arrangement of the façades the Ionic order is placed above the Doric order. Above the rusticated base of roughly hewn blocks of natural stone (petit granite) the façades are built in a dark red brick (Rhijnsteen appelbloesem). The band courses, the mouldings and the remaining sculptural work with renaissance motifs on the richly ornamented façades are executed in white limestone. The building contains predominantly T-windows with straight or half-round fanlights and narrow sash windows. A large number of the windows and doors are provided with a block-tooth moulding and a segmental arch or triangular pediment in white limestone. The symmetrical main façade (south-east) with round corner towers has a slightly projecting central section of five bays with a pronounced central risalit over two storeys. On the second storey the central main entrance in a loggia of three round arches with a broad natural stone staircase in front of it. This loggia, now closed off with glazed panels, is spanned by vault domes laid in yellow IJssel stone and has a floor of terrazzo mosaic tiles. Above the round arches a frieze with triglyphs and metopes under a cornice line and attic with balustrade. Above the storey windows and on the frieze below the eaves natural stone reliefs. The risalit is crowned by a stepped gable in Dutch Renaissance style with claw pieces, obelisks and at the top a segmental arch broken pediment. In the top gable three cartouches with the dates 1876 and 1879 and the name Oud-Wassenaar and a clock face in carved surround. On either side of the top gable richly ornamented roof dormers. The corner towers are provided at the level of the storey with a circumambulating balcony with cast-iron railings on consoles and are richly decorated above with natural stone renaissance ornaments. The zinc dome roofs with lantern are supported by elongated consoles with volute decoration. Against the north-eastern side façade a risalit three bays wide with a central entrance section on the second storey and on the upper floor three stairwell openings with glazing bars and stained glass. In the steep roof slope above the risalit an attic and roof dormer. To the left of the risalit the corner tower and to the right a corner pavilion with one window floor under a hipped tent roof with roof dormer. The narrow façade section next to the corner pavilion is crowned by a dome roof covered with slates. The south-western side façade is in main lines mirror-image identical to the north-eastern façade. Next to the corner tower a risalit three bays wide with attic balustrade and gable with roof dormer. On the left a corner pavilion under hipped tent roof with roof dormer. On the second storey a loggia with central round arch on columns, flanked by rectangular plastered bays (originally open) and round façade openings with natural stone surround. Next to the corner pavilion a low round staircase tower under conical roof with needle spire. The symmetrical rear façade (north-west) has a central risalit five bays wide under roof slope with three roof dormers and corner pavilions under steep hipped tent roofs with one roof dormer. The basement and second storey are concealed behind the later added hall. In the 13 window axes of the façade cross windows with glazing bars and double 10-pane doors. The middle six pilasters and the balcony parapet are clad with decorative terracotta tiles. On the upper floor on either side of the central risalit two and in the corner pavilions one window.

Interior

In the basement are preserved amongst others the tile wainscoting of the corridors and the former pantry (now: gentlemen's toilet), as well as the old wine cellar. The various rooms are spanned by trough vaults and masonry cross and barrel vaults.

On the second storey and the upper floor the rooms are grouped around the richly executed central vestibule spanning two storeys which is lit by a circular skylight with a compass rose of stained glass. At the level of the upper floor a gallery with white marble balustrade on columns of red granite with black marble bases and white marble capitals. The pedestals are of grey granite. The floor consists of white veined marble with bands of coloured marble mosaic between the columns. The walls of the vestibule on the second storey are clad with artificial marble (stucco lustro) and articulated by round arch doorways and pilasters with Doric capitals. The walls on the upper floor are painted with ornaments in Neo-Renaissance style and articulated by pilasters with Ionic capitals between round arches under trompe-l'oeil. Executed in Neo-Renaissance style oak doors under broken pediments give access to the various rooms.

In the north wall of the vestibule an open round arch passage to the stairwell clad with artificial marble. The single white marble staircase with matching balustrade continues via a landing into two wooden stairs with wooden balustrade. Ceiling with mouldings and a central round ceiling painting. Stairwell windows with leaded lights, the middle one with landscape. The Neo-Dutch Renaissance interior of the dining room (now: hunting room) is executed in bare oak wood. The coffered ceiling consists of ornament-painted coffered panels and a central panel with a painted figure group. The rich panel wainscoting is painted with floral and fruit festoons and the panels are filled with gobelin tapestries made specially for Oud-Wassenaar. The wall wainscoting with bookcases of the former library in Neo-Renaissance style is, like the ceiling divided into coffered panels, executed in dark walnut wood. In the half-round fanlights of the double doors leaded light windows. The Neo-Louis XVI interior painted in light colours of the salon and the adjacent boudoir with antichambre consists amongst other things of panel wainscoting and ornamental mouldings of papier-mâché around panels with satin wall covering. The small rooms to the right of the entrance are provided with high walnut panel wainscoting. The large ballroom in elegant late Neo-Renaissance style is stuccoed with pilasters, entablature and ceiling with profiled mouldings around a rectangular ceiling painting with landscape. The panels between the pilasters are clad with silk fabric, the stucco is painted with delicate ornaments. In some rooms on the upper floor are preserved amongst other things panel wainscoting, beam ceilings and mirror vaults executed in stucco work. From the upper floor a cast-iron spiral staircase leads to the attic storey, which is in a largely original state. Scattered throughout the building are still some pieces of the original furniture designed specially for Oud Wassenaar.

Valuation

The COUNTRY HOUSE Oud Wassenaar is of general importance for its architectural and cultural-historical value. The country house is a representative example of Neo-Renaissance, from the school of Delft professor E. Gugel, and a high point in the architectural oeuvre of architect C. Muysken.

The Country House Oud Wassenaar is a typical example of a 'Gesamtkunstwerk', where the architect designed both exterior and interior. The high quality of the very rich interior is determined by the particular ensemble of the different interior styles appropriate to the original function of the rooms, the high-quality execution and the special use of materials. The building is to a high degree intact in main form, use of materials and detailing, both externally and internally.

The country house is also of importance as a visually defining main component of the historic country estate Oud-Wassenaar, particularly because of the deliberately pursued picturesque silhouette and the colourful use of materials in relation to the landscape park layout.