Kasteel Heeze

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

CASTLE HEEZE

Castle Heeze is located at the end of a 500-metre-long drive that begins east of the village of Heeze from the Kapelstraat. The current building complex is dominated by the strictly symmetrical structure situated before the older castle in the 1660s, created according to a design by Pieter Post. Originally the design comprised a square main building on the site of the then ruined castle Eymerick with two stables buildings arranged perpendicularly on the forecourt. Of the design the latter buildings were executed, which were connected to each other by a transverse wing with a gatehouse tower and access to the inner courtyard, so that a U-shaped building arrangement was created. According to the plans only one storey was to be built, but already in 1665 during construction it was decided to revise the plans and the front facade was raised to two storeys. This intervention can still be seen on the inner courtyard side and in the hybrid roof truss structure in the main building, where extensions have been added to the roof rafters.

The front section of the castle consists of two wings, each containing five bays and two storeys, built in brick under asymmetrical slated bent gabled roofs, separated from each other by the gatehouse tower and closed off by raised (three storeys) tower-shaped, projecting, corner pavilions under pyramidal roofs, adorned with weathervanes. The windows in both storeys and also in the corner pavilions are identical and contain 32-paned sash windows. The likewise slightly projecting gatehouse tower under bent conical roof contains the entrance door, framed by Tuscan pilasters that carry an entablature. Above this is a - later enlarged - window with the sculptured coats of arms of the families van Tuyll van Serooskerken and van Westreenen on either side. These replaced towards the end of the 18th century older coats of arms from 1665 with the family crest of Snoeckaert van Schauburg. The central section was altered at that time. The facades, both of the front building and of the rear wings, are executed very soberly and contain all 32-paned sash windows. On the roofs there are a number of simple dormers. In the two rear wings, each five bays wide, the architecture of the front building is continued.

INTERIOR

The castle contains thirty rooms. Important additions to the interior were the embellishments made around 1735 by the then owner Francois Adam Holbach. On the ground floor he had a bathroom installed in the northern wing. In the blue stone floor a hole has been left, in which a keyhole-shaped marble bath has been fitted, which has a drain into the castle moat. In this bathroom furthermore a rounded niche with 2 dolphins and a chimneypiece with Ionic columns, as well as an image of the sun in stucco. He also had the four important 17th-century wall tapestries with scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, after drawings by Lebrun, brought into the great salon. In the small salon six Flemish tapestries, made after engravings of works by Petrus Paulus Rubens. These probably date from the same period. On the ground floor furthermore among others the red room with chimneypiece with hunting emblem; at the end of the western wing a room with marble chimneypiece. On the first floor there is in the centre above the entrance an oval music room, embellished with half-columns, stucco ceiling with dome and symmetrically four niches in the wall. When in the years 1796-98 the entrance of the castle was somewhat modified, this hall was placed above the gate according to a design by the Liège architect Nicolas Renier. Furthermore on the first floor the Minerva room with classical representations, presumably late 18th century and next to it the blue room, presumably from the same period with blue wallpaper and a chimneypiece. In a northerly direction in the main wing a room with gilded leather wallpaper, stucco ceiling and marble chimneypiece.

APPRECIATION

Of general importance because of:

- the carefully executed architectural design of this important example of the oeuvre of Pieter Post;

- the high degree of integrity of exterior and interior;

- the functional-spatial relationship with the other components of the country estate;

- the characteristic location in the immediate vicinity of the former castle island and in the historical park and garden layout.