Rengerspark

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

STADSPARK, laid out in Mixed Garden Style after a design by H. Copijn and put into use in 1906. Located immediately to the east of the General Cemetery - registered monument no. 507429 - and separated from it by a ditch. On the south side the Spanjaardslaan, separated from the park by a ditch and planted with chestnut trees, and on the north side adjoining the semi-open area of meadows and the Children's Farm. Previously bounded on the east side by the working-class neighbourhood of Bleekerstraat and surroundings, now by the spacious Rengerslaan laid out in the seventies and unbuilt on and partly planted on the west side, where at the corner in the early nineties the large VVV plant container from the twenties, originating from Stationsplein, was placed. Together with the cemetery, the remaining meadows and children's farm, the park forms an attractive green area just north of the city centre.

Mr. W.J. van Welderen baron Rengers, former mayor (1877-1883) of Leeuwarden and his wife C.T. baroness van Welderen Rengers-Looxsma offered the municipality in the autumn of 1902 three parcels of meadow land totalling 3.5 hectares with the wish to convert that land into a public walk. After his term as mayor, Rengers was a member of the Second and First Chamber and he published in 1898-1905 the still widely consulted study 'Outline of a Parliamentary History of the Netherlands since 1849'. The donated meadows were located between the General Cemetery and Bleekersstraat, the western street of the densely built Camstraburen. The municipality accepted the donation. The Sint-Anthonygasthuis donated 5000 guilders and the management of the Spaarbank 2500 guilders for the development of the site, while two persons who wished to remain anonymous contributed 5000 and 1000 guilders respectively.

The municipality invited thirteen experts to draw up a plan for the park. None of the designs proved to have sufficient funds available. H. Copijn from Groenekan subsequently offered of his own initiative a simplified plan that with the entrances to be made at Spanjaardslaan and Bleekersstraat would cost 14,430 guilders. On 25 October 1904 the municipal council decided to construct the park according to Copijn's latest design. The north-eastern corner of the area was laid out as a playground separated from the park. In the middle of the park came a large pond; the excavated earth was used to raise the surrounding terrain. Subsequently the area was laid out and planted according to the plan. The park was opened without ceremony in April 1906. In 1908 municipal archivist, Mrs. R. Visscher, writes: the park "is a wonderful acquisition for Leeuwarden. Although the young trees, which later will form, among other things, a shady double avenue opposite the entrance, cannot yet provide much shade, the park is already adorned in summer with a wealth of flowering shrubs, which stand out beautifully against the dark background of the tall elms of the cemetery". Since then the layout of the park has been largely respected, although the green planting has undergone some changes through maintenance and replacement. The tree population has been largely respected; changes have occurred in the shrubs. The playground has disappeared and been incorporated into the park.

Description

The ground plan of the site is irregular; the park fills the space between the oval area of the General Cemetery, Spanjaardslaan and Rengerslaan (formerly Bleekersstraat). On the north-western cemetery side the park is wedge-shaped, the south and east sides have nearly straight boundaries which are at an angle of 80 degrees to each other. The northern boundary also runs askew. On this irregular ground plan Copijn laid out a contrast between a formal section and a larger part in a decorative variant of the English Landscape Style. The entrance is in the south-eastern corner on Spanjaardslaan, as close as possible to the city centre, placed on a dam with masonry on one side, where the ditch marking the boundary between Spanjaardslaan and park ends. In the paving with yellow clinker tiles the date 1904 in a mottled reddish-brown brick field. The entrance is provided with a wrought iron gate, consisting of posts and a double hinged gate. The posts are supported at the base by three rounded buttresses and each consist of two heavy uprights with spikes in between and finials with 'RENGERS' on one side and 'PARK' on the other side with finials of elegantly shaped shields. The double hinged gate swings down towards the point and has alternating straight and twisted square spikes. The point is crowned by a fleuron. To the left behind the gate the iron board with regulations (supervision of people under 18, no loose dogs) consisting of a square post with base and list capital and a rectangular text board surrounded by scrollwork. On the eastern margin of the park, following this entrance, is a formal double promenade with an aligned row of lime trees in the central bed and at the end two ornamental vases on high pedestals with representations of cherubs making offerings with garlands, donated in 1922 by the VVV. At the end of the promenade is a second entrance to Rengerslaan on the east side and in that corner in 1993 the monument for those who fell in the Indies was placed. On the north and west sides of the promenade the asphalt-paved paths fan out towards the section in the Landscape Style with deliberately arranged naturalism and strongly decorative compositions.

Otherwise winding paths around and through varied enclosed planting groups and wings of trees and shrubs and open grass lawns and lying fields with solitary trees that enhance views and vistas. In many places benches with litter bins (renewed several times) have been placed. The large pond is the most remarkable element in the park; the scarcely profiled transition from sloping lawns and the water surface is its most important characteristic. Another striking effect is the perspectival placement of the pond. From the broad southern strip of the garden there is almost always a view of the pond which is dug precisely in the narrowest part of the park. Over the northern extension of the pond a small bridge has been thrown. These are means to make the pond and the park look larger than they are. On the west side lies a small, rounded peninsula in the pond which partly interrupts the perspective. On the northern shore of the pond stands the statue 'Child with Bird', made in 1965 by Maria van Everdingen. In the far north-western corner in the 70s a dam was laid in the boundary ditch between park and General Cemetery, provided with (unsuitable) fencing. To the north of it the most important vista from the park over the meadows.

The park possesses a rich assortment of woody plants. Among the approximately fifty tree species, special tree species stand out: the large-leaved poplar, the golden robinia, the amber tree, copper beech, sugar maple and variegated maple. Alongside a number of summer oaks, the park also has Turkish oak, American oak and swamp oak. Furthermore, the trumpet tree, various nut trees, honey locust, bald cypress and ginkgo biloba are found and there are arbour birches and arbour elms. The use of conifers is striking, in particular the composition of the group of varied species between the south-western edge and the pond area. The great variety of species will on the one hand be related to the decorative spirit of the time, on the other hand to the then existing possibility of applying many exotic species through considerable imports.

VALUATION

The Rengerspark is of general historical, garden-historical and urban planning importance

- because of the process of creation in an atmosphere of the promotion of public health, to which individuals and institutions contributed financially;

- because of the Mixed Garden Style which in the Rengerspark took on largely decorative landscape form with a formal contrast of a promenade, as well as the decorative effects of a relatively very large number of species, characteristic of this period in H. Copijn's oeuvre;

- because of the location of the park near the northern edge of the city centre and the coherence with the General Cemetery and the meadow area to the north and west which has resulted in a remarkable wide green wedge in the urban development.