Historische aanleg, Rijksstraatweg bij 72

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

HISTORIC GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT belonging to the country estate Middenhoek. The layout consists of a house plot on the Vecht and an outlying plot, which are separated from each other by the Rijksstraatweg. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the formal layout was oriented to the south, with the house situated between the present-day Rijksstraatweg and the Jaagpad on the Vecht. Currently the house plot is laid out with a residential building from 1970 with a modern garden around it and a tree-lined, trapezoidal meadow on the north side (eighteenth-century element). On the far side of the road lies the elongated outlying garden originally with a central axis projected at right angles to the house plot (see map Covens/Mortier c. 1737). Of this formal layout there now remains the situation of the kitchen garden and orchards. The outlying plot is distinguishable in two parts. The western part currently consists of a production semi-standard orchard with adjacent an extension of the parkland with young planting and a meadow (south) in which a grape house. On the cadaster map (1832) it is evident that this terrain was in use as a garden, orchard and alder carr. The park-like character was determined by avenues including a chestnut avenue along the large kitchen garden. Also situated here was an extension of the pond area, which was filled in around 1947. The eastern part forms the core of the country estate and comprises a layout in landscape style with two meandering ponds, a kitchen garden, two orchards and a parkland furnished with ornamental buildings. Along the ponds remarkable sight-lines are projected onto solitary trees and tree groups: onto a group of swamp cypress at the northerly located pond, onto an atlas cedar and a catalpa at the southerly located pond. The structure of the landscape-style layout is carried by these elements (meandering paths, meandering ponds and sight-lines). Important visual-spatial elements are formed by the vistas over the ponds and the vistas from the road. The landscape-style layout came into being in different phases. The oldest element is formed by the meandering water feature (south) with the small island and sloping banks, this was probably laid out around 1800. On the small island stood in the late 19th century a duck decoy with exceptional ducks and a bench with a view over the pond area. The (short) side arms or branches of the pond suggest infinite extension. On the bank also stood a so-called 'children's house' from the late 19th century, which was demolished after the war. The children's house was connected to the large kitchen garden by a pergola. Around 1830 the plot was doubled and the layout further developed in landscape style, as is evident from the cadaster map of 1832. From this period date the parkland with coppice, meandering avenues and the water feature on the north side. Along the western edge of the layout runs a curved beech avenue (planting c. 1880, replaced 1999), which offers vistas onto the background meadow landscape. It is possible that the garden architect Zocher designed the layout. Characteristics of his work are the alternation of mass and space, the variety of open (meadow) and enclosed (coppice) and the high visual experiential value formed by surprising vistas, a walk around the open space, meandering paths through coppice and flowering shrubs. In 1862 a new house was built in the outlying garden, to the north of the kitchen garden. In front of the house (demolished 1956) the layout was arranged with a grass field onto which solitary trees and a shrub group. The layout was also embellished at this time by various arbours, some of which have been preserved.

Valuation

HISTORIC GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT belonging to the country estate Middenhoek of general importance:
- as an example of a garden and park layout in landscape style, partly preserved in structure and partly in detail, that came into being in the course of the 19th century in different phases;
- because of the complex consisting of a house and an outlying plot, which is typical for the country estates on the west bank of the Vecht;
- because of the embellishment of the layout with various arbours and the like;
- because of the functional-spatial coherence with the other components of the country estate.