Vijverhof

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 residential mansion in eclectic style of the historical country estate Vijverhof dates from 1866. The country estate was founded in 1670 by Agnes Block, widow of Hans de Wolff. That year she purchased a farmstead with 14.5 hectares of land. She had a house with a tea pavilion built next to the existing farmhouse. Furthermore, orchards, vegetable and flower gardens, plantations and woodland were laid out and a number of ponds dug. The name Vijverhof is therefore derived from these ponds.

Agnes Block (1629-1704), known as an amateur botanist under the name Flora Batava, had arranged a cabinet of curiosities at her country estate, an aviary with exotic birds, a cultivation of exotic plants and a collection of watercolours of flowers, plants and birds executed by contemporary artists.

In 1813 the Vijverhof was consolidated with the neighbouring property Over Holland and the buildings demolished. In 1866 a division took place and the then owner Jonkheer Pieter Clifford had the present residential house built. Since 1958 the Vijverhof has been the property of the Royal Academy of Sciences and a research institute has been established there. The interior was adapted, whereby the central hallway on the main storey and upper storey were retained. The roof truss structure also remains unchanged. A staircase and greenhouse were added to the right side facade (falling outside the protection). An entrance to the basement has been created in the left side facade. The stone step at the front has been replaced with a synthetic stone one. The balcony doors on the upper storey became a roof dormer.

On the grounds a car park was laid out and an office building arose, and in the nineteen-nineties a laboratory on the side of the Vecht. The house was restored in 1981-1982, during which the foundation was renewed among other things. The Vijverhof now comprises only 1.44 hectares of land (of the 14.5 hectares in the seventeenth century). It shows remains of a nineteenth-century landscape design with some old solitary trees, such as beeches and chestnut trees, undulating lawn and a pond behind the house, connected to the Vecht via a culvert. Along the Vecht is a small strip of park woodland with two landing jetties. One of these contains the original stone step of the house. The country estate Vijverhof is part of a series of country estates along the Vecht and forms a unit with the country estates Over-Holland, Sterreschans and Rupelmonde. On the other side of the Rijksstraatweg is the original overgarden, which no longer belongs to the Vijverhof.

Description

The residential house in the form of a mansion built in 1866 in eclectic style is situated on a plot located between the Rijksstraatweg and the Vecht. The front facade faces the road. The plastered, light yellow rendered, cubic building consists of a basement and two storeys under a flattened broken hipped roof covered with pantiles from Oestgeest, with the exception of part of the roof at the rear right and provided with lead ridge and hip cresting. A dormer with curved pediment and corner brackets has been added to the middle of each roof plane. A chimney is placed on each of the four ridge corners.

The facades are provided with horizontal string courses as divisions of the various storeys. The facades all round are finished with a cornice. The front and rear facades receive additional emphasis through panels with stucco ornaments below the windows and pilaster strips on the facade corners. Basement windows and the tall T-windows have rounded upper corners. The T-windows are provided with a profiled plastered frame with a dog's head as decorative keystone.

The symmetrically divided front facade (west side) is five bays wide. In the middle is a slightly projecting facade section, within which the entrance is placed. A renewed stone steps with iron railing leads to the double panel door with fanlight. Above this is a balcony supported by consoles in the form of male figures (Atlantes). On the upper storey is a roof dormer with fanlight. On either side of the central projection are two basement windows, two T-windows on the main storey and two T-windows on the upper storey.

The rear facade is five bays wide with five basement windows and five T-windows on the main storey and on the upper storey. Above the middle basement window a stone plaque is set into the brickwork with the text: "The four corner stones laid by Jonkvrouwen E.M. Ploos van Amstel, C.C. Clifford, J.J. Ploos van Amstel, E.M. Clifford 1 November 1866". The left and right side facades are simply treated. Above the greenhouse against the right side facade a remnant of a T-window is visible on the left. On the right, instead of a T-window, there is a double door with fanlight to a modern staircase. On the upper storey two T-windows are installed. The left side facade contains two blind recesses on the main storey and on the upper storey. At basement level is a projecting porch with stairs to the basement. Halfway along the facade is a window for light admission in the staircase.

Internally the central hallway on the main storey and upper storey have been retained, as well as the staircase and the roof truss structure.

Valuation

The building is of general importance for its cultural and architectural historical value as an example of a cubic plastered mansion in eclectic style, which has been well preserved especially in terms of its exterior both as to main form and detailing with elements characteristic of the building period (1866). Also for its ensemble value as a remnant of a historical country estate within the series of country estates along the Vecht. Finally for its striking situation within a small landscape-designed garden.