Kasteel, Landgoed Middachten 3

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. Main Building (Middachten)

The originally medieval moated MAIN BUILDING was rebuilt between 1693 and 1698 in classical style to the design of stadtholder's architect Jacob Roman, executed by Steven Vennekool. Vennekool added the decorated entrance section. In the rebuilding, medieval masonry was reused. The block-shaped, brick building is constructed on a square ground plan with a rectangular projection on all four sides. These projecting sections advance as an avant-corps to such an extent that the side surfaces contain windows. The house is built up from a sloping substructure and two storeys under a slated hipped roof. Rectangular brick chimneys stand on the roof ridge ends. The substructure, separated from the superstructure by a sandstone edge, is accessible via the bridge and also from the moat. The front and rear facades are five bays wide and both side facades are six bays wide. The bays consist of a sash window in the substructure, a multi-pane window on the piano nobile and a multi-pane window on the upper storey. All windows of the main building are fitted with one-and-a-half-brick dentil moulding. The undecorated and flat side facades have uniform construction crowned by a block-shaped cornice. The front facade is defined by the ashlar entrance section, which spans the entire projection. The entrance section, under a slated hipped roof whose top ends in a brick chimney, is closed by a segmental pediment in which a polychrome shield with the alliance coat of arms of Van Reede and Van Raesfelt, held by two griffins. Below it a waving ribbon with the text 'MALO MORAM QUAM FOEDARI' (Rather death than dishonour). On the piano nobile, the double panelled door with segmental fanlight with radial glazing bars (spoke bars) is flanked by a multi-pane window with multi-pane fanlight. This filling is set in an ashlar frame consisting of four pilasters crowned by an entablature. The side pilasters bear military attributes (helmet and shield). In front of the door is a raised platform. Above the main entrance is a framed multi-pane sash window with French balcony flanked by two segmental multi-pane sash windows. The entire entrance section is designed as a triumphal arch to display the martial glory of the builder Godart van Reede. The side bays are formed by two multi-pane windows placed one above the other and a dormer with multi-pane window under a segmental wooden pediment. The middle bay on the rear side (south) has two different balconies. On the piano nobile a wrought-iron balcony, supported by four ashlar consoles, for a multi-pane sash window with hinged wooden lower panel. On the second storey an ashlar French balcony with undecorated balusters for a multi-pane sash window with hinged wooden lower panel. The middle and the two side bays are crowned by a dormer with multi-pane casement windows and above it a segmental pediment.

In the INTERIOR the seventeenth-century ground plan has been well preserved. Centrally the oval-shaped stairwell, crowned by a richly stuccoed dome around which the various rooms are grouped in an apartment system. In the interior decoration, seventeenth-century timber panelling has been largely well preserved. Elements from style periods of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (including the decoration of the Green Room) were integrated. The seventeenth-century stairwell forms the heart of the house (built on the former courtyard) and consists of a double oval staircase, furnished with rich woodcarving in which the Irish harp and a serpent motif are incorporated and exuberant stuccowork designed by Vennekool (amongst others executed by Francesco Ottolini). The iconographic programme of the carved and stucco work refers to the Irish exploits of general Godart van Reede. Of the interior decoration, the stucco ceiling in Empire style in the Hall from 1813 is of particular importance, with commodes under mirrors in Louis XV style and two double-curved commodes in Louis XV style. In 1900 the door sections, originally from the middle of the Hall, were moved forward. In the Dining Room there is a stucco ceiling from circa 1845 with, amongst other things, the alliance coat of arms Bentinck and Van Waldeck Piermont. The Blue Room has, as does the Green Room, a seventeenth-century stucco ceiling and adjoining a small cabinet in which a fireplace in the style of Daniël Marot. The library and the bedroom above it have an octagonal dome-shaped ceiling.

Valuation

MAIN BUILDING (Middachten) belonging to the historical country estate Middachten of particular importance

- due to the well-preserved interior and exterior of the originally medieval house, which was rebuilt in classical style in the seventeenth century;

- as a well-preserved example of the work of Jacob Roman and Steven Vennekool;

- due to the well-preserved seventeenth-century ground plan of the interior in which the unique stairwell with dome is incorporated

- due to the seventeenth-century decoration of the interior with later modifications.