Historische aanleg, Rijksstraatweg bij 819

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 complex component 2

HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT. The formal layout from the mid-17th century and the beginning of the 18th century has been gradually landscaped in phases from the mid-18th century onwards, with parts of the formal structure being harmoniously integrated into the new design. The main building lies roughly centrally in the park layout, at the transition from the higher-lying coastal dune ridge in the west to the lower-lying peat meadow area in the east. From the entrance gate at the Rijksstraatweg, a driveway planted with heavy beech trees leads via a right-angle bend to the entrance. The front façade of the house is not oriented towards the Rijksstraatweg, as is the case with most other country houses on this road, but stands at right angles to it. A number of farmhouses, including the Zijdewoning, De Os and the Hoogwerf were all oriented towards the Landscheiding. This may explain the different orientation. The house is not visible from the road. Behind the house, in line with the driveway, lies a moated rectangular area that was originally probably used as a kitchen garden and orchard. Nowadays it is seeded with grass and planted with a few trees and shrub groups. The broad path around the moat is bordered on both sides by a few lime trees. Since the 17th or early 18th century, the entire horseshoe-shaped route was planted with a double row of lime trees, nowadays only a few trees remain. Between the main building and the moat, somewhat to the side, lies a small pond, which had been connected to the moat and the water avenue and was filled in in phases. A broad water avenue flanked by beech trees formed an alternative access route to the main building from the 17th or early 18th century. This waterway and sight line branched off from the Veenzijdse Wetering, was covered over at the height of the forecourt and ran to halfway through the woodland in the direction of the Rijksstraatweg. The former endpoint of the water avenue can be found in the woodland at a monumental lime tree. Behind this lime tree, the original line of the avenue continues as a path with a one-sided old yew tree plantation. The part of the water avenue lying in the woodland and the part in front of the house have been filled in in phases, the eastern part has been preserved. On the rectangular wooded area to the northwest of the house, a formal lane system was established in the 17th and 18th centuries. Lanes and paths were laid out at right angles to and parallel with the Rijksstraatweg and were later extended with a few diagonal axes (patte d'oie), which converged radially in front of the house. Many of these lanes and paths are still recognizable as such. Towards the Rijksstraatweg, which lies on the coastal dune ridge, the lanes and paths rise somewhat and are flanked by similarly rising high banks. They are often planted with oak and/or beech trees. The axis that runs behind the house has always been a sight line, which led to a tea pavilion, which was demolished around 1856. The natural topography of the terrain along the Rijksstraatweg (coastal dune ridge/dunes) was optimally utilized in the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century for a layout in early picturesque style, whereby the older formal structure was partly transformed and partly retained. In this way, a rare intact network of early picturesque winding paths has been preserved. In the northeastern part of the layout, a picturesque setting with oak and birch trees is recognizable, bounded by a picturesque remodeled watercourse and intersected by winding paths, some of which follow the curved inward and outward bulging course of this watercourse. The open meadow to the northwest of the house was initially a modest semicircular clearing in the woodland and was enlarged in phases over the course of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century to the current large V-shaped meadow. The meadow is largely enclosed by a variedly planted woodland edge, through which a walking path runs, partly accompanied by old trees (beech, chestnut). In the eastern part of the park layout, at least since the mid-18th century, there were extensive walled utility gardens and orchard with an orangery, barn, shed and cold frames. The original use is still recognizable from the preserved garden walls. Around the utility gardens and the meadow area ran a tree-planted circular walk. The small woodland park in the far southeastern corner of this part of the layout was established in the second half of the 19th century. The meadows on the southeast and southwest sides of the park have belonged to the complex from time immemorial and are important as a visual buffer around the country estate. On the opposite side of the Rijksstraatweg lay an outer garden, the Overbosch, where in the 18th century a finch-trap with finch house were laid out. In the middle of the 19th century, this part was separated and the still-existing country house Beukenhorst was established there.

Valuation

The historical GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT of the country estate Langenhorst is of general importance:

- because of its cultural and garden-historical value as a remarkable example of a partly transformed formal garden layout, originally from the 17th century, of which rarely preserved elements such as the water avenue, the lane system and the moated island surrounded by lime trees have been retained;

- the park layout is also of great importance because it is a rare example where the transition to the early picturesque style from the mid-18th century remains recognizable in the form of the gently sloping terrain with curved paths and water system;

- the park layout has ensemble value because of the spatial and functional relationship with the other complex components;

- the park layout of the historic country estate Langenhorst is of landscape and urban design importance because of the recognizable situation along the Rijksstraatweg, at the transition of the coastal dune landscape and the peat meadow area, where it forms part of Wassenaar's country estate zone between Leiden and The Hague.