"""De Binckhof"""

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

Introduction

The MAIN BUILDING of De Binckhof is a building consisting of three block-shaped wings, constructed at a short distance from the old through road between Nijmegen and Bergen op Zoom. The design, executed in neo-Gothic style, dates from 1862-'65 and is by A. Slootmaekers. The building is still in almost entirely original condition. In 1924-'25 the coping of the gable tower was replaced.

Description

The three-storey building has a somewhat classicist layout with an H-shaped floor plan and a strong emphasis on hierarchy and symmetry. The detailing of the building is, however, neo-Gothic. The layout of a central section with right-angled, strongly projecting side wings has resulted in a courtyard enclosed on three sides being created both on the front and rear sides. The building has three storeys and is roofed with gabled roofs, furnished with tiles and slate in Maas bonding. The front facades of the central section and side wings are richly detailed. These facades, laid in hand-made brick of various colours, are articulated by brick pilasters, a herringbone arch frieze and a hard-stone plinth. On the ground floor are everywhere casement windows with eight panes, on the first floor six-pane windows and on the second floor four-pane windows. The central and dominant element is the entrance section of the central part. Here, in a round-arched portal with hard- and brick framing, a hinged wing door with wrought-iron fittings has been placed. In the arch drum decorated with ornamental brickwork is a four-lobed oculus. The windows in this section have a lintel with a trifoil motif. Above the brick attic rises a gable tower, which transitions from a square floor plan to an octagon. The tower with clock face is decorated with crockets and gains a distinctive silhouette through the large spouts. The spire is not completed. The remaining facades are soberly executed. Like on the front of the building, stair towers stand at the rear in the corners of the central and side wings. The eastern building is moreover furnished on its eastern and northern sides with a distinctive stair tower. The northern one has a pointed arch frieze and at the level of the first floor an empty niche, in which a statue of Mary previously stood. In the northern side of the western wing is housed the former cloister chapel. This single-aisle chapel has a nave of five bays and a three-sided closed choir apse, but was probably divided into three storeys around 1970 by the insertion of floors. The facades are articulated between the pointed arch windows by single-recessed buttresses, which end at the springing of the vault. Next to the building stands on both the eastern and western sides a one-storey extension (including sacristy), on the eastern side three-sided closed.

The eastern part of the front facade is, including the windows, largely overgrown with ivy. In the interior of the building are noteworthy, among others, the refectory and the corridor with plaster cross-ribbed vaults with corresponding consoles. Currently these vaults are painted with a yellow and green brick motif, the consoles have a wood-imitation paint finish. Beneath these are older paintings. Also of importance are throughout the building many panelled doors, sometimes with a pointed arch-shaped light.

Valuation

The object is of general importance as a particular expression of a spiritual and typological development. It is of particular importance for the history of architecture; is of significance because of the particular use of materials and the ornamentation; and is of significance because of the architectural integrity of the exterior and interior.