Woonhuis, Straatweg 30

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

RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, originally forming as a country house the main component of the country estate 'Vrederust' dating from the 17th century, to which extensive lands and farmhouses belonged at that time. The house, situated west of the river Vecht, originally had its entrance situated on the waterside. In the second half of the nineteenth century the residential house of the country house type was remodelled in the style of Eclecticism with influences of neoclassicism and the house acquired its present appearance. At the beginning of the twentieth century a conservatory was built on the south-east side, while a veranda was constructed on the north-west side. The veranda has been remodelled in the present situation and is in use as a conservatory. In niches on the south-west side there are two armed knights with swords and coloured shields. These are replicas of the original statues. North-west of the main house stands the carriage house from the second half of the nineteenth century, equipped with corresponding stylistic elements as the country house. The originally formal garden of the country estate has been transformed into a landscape garden. However, scarcely anything of this layout is recognisable anymore. On the Vecht side there are, among other things, a visually distinctive red beech and weeping beech. On the Straatweg stands a wrought-iron entrance gate with double swing gate and on the gate posts the name 'Vrede' and 'Rust'. At the landing stage on the Vecht there is also wrought-iron fencing.

N.B. The carriage house and the garden layout are of subordinate importance for national protection due to alterations and insufficient architectural-historical value.

N.B. The owner has not granted permission to describe the interior. Remarks about the interior are therefore based on existing literature.

Description

The residential house is constructed in brick from a composite ground plan. The two-storey building has a composite roof structure with, on the Straatweg side, a hipped roof in the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to this a composite, flattened hipped roof. The roofs are covered with red, glazed Tuiles du Nord and are pierced by two brick chimneys. The glazed roof light is presumably a glazed covering of the stairwell. The building consists of a rectangular main volume on the Straatweg side with a narrower rectangular volume behind it. North-east of the main volume - on the Vecht side - there is a five-sided building volume, in which the domed chamber is situated on the ground floor. On the south-east side there is a conservatory with flat roof on a rectangular ground plan. Against the north-west facade of the main volume is a veranda on a rectangular ground plan. The facades are articulated by plastered sections such as the plinth running all around, corner accents with imitation joints, pilasters, blocked lesenes and the cornice running all around. The facade surfaces are brown-coloured. The vertically-topped windows with profiled surrounds contain sash windows with 18-paned fanlights with facet-cut glass. The vertically-topped windows are crowned by a hood.

The symmetrical front facade on the Straatweg (south-west side) has three bays. The facade contains, besides the aforementioned plastered sections, in the left and right corners a round-arched niche with, above it on the upper storey, a coupled pilaster. At the location of the blocked plasterwork and the pilasters, the storey line and cornice project slightly. The central axis is plastered over its entire height, provided with imitation joints and rises slightly. The axis is crowned by a triangular pediment projecting above the eaves with a circular window. On the ground floor is the vertically-topped entrance with a sandstone step with three treads, a double door with a door jamb and transom in Empire style and a fanlight. The doors have panes with cast-iron grilles and are enriched with carved festoons. Above the entrance is one window. The two outer axes contain one window per storey and per axis. On the roof there are two dormers. The south-east facade of the main volume is occupied over the full width of the first storey by a conservatory with bevelled corners. The conservatory consists of a brick and plastered plinth with timber superstructure and contains vertically-topped windows with glazing-bar fanlights and projecting gutter lines on carved brackets. In the middle of the long side are double opening garden doors. On the second storey there are two plastered blind windows.

The veranda against the north-west facade is executed with a wrought-iron structure, glazed roof and glazing-bar draught screens. On the upper storey to the right a blind window and to the left a window. The rear facade (north-east side) on the Vecht is dominated by the five-sided domed chamber. The three sides facing the Vecht each contain one window per storey. In the central axis - on the ground floor - there is a double terrace door. The central axis is crowned by a triangular pediment projecting above the eaves. On the roof slope itself stands a wrought-iron decorative fence, in which a bell hangs. In the sides of the domed chamber there is one blind window per storey. The facade sections of the main volume that project in relation to the five-sided domed chamber contains an axis with one window per storey. The corners, in contrast to the front facade, are furnished per storey with a coupled set of block pilasters. On the roof slopes above are two dormers. The interior has largely retained its original layout and detailing. Of importance is, among other things, the eight-sided domed chamber with stucco work, in which, among other things, putti with the attributes of the seasons are incorporated.

Valuation

The building is of general interest due to its cultural and architectural-historical value as a relatively well-preserved example of a carefully detailed residential house executed in eclectic style, which in the nineteenth century acquired its present appearance after a remodelling; as the main component of a transformed country estate from the seventeenth century; as well as due to its visually distinctive location along the river Vecht. Of cultural-historical value as an expression of a distinctive residential history on the Vecht which from the 17th century was connected with the housing of the Dutch elite.