Landhuis, Leeuwenlaan 7

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 the MAIN HOUSE (1):

The nearly square main house of the complex historic country estate Hilverbeek, built in the period 1725-1730, consists of a basement, two storeys and a hipped roof covered with tiles with four corner chimneys. On the north side is an extended room with rounded corners. The side facades are also executed with a smaller extension with rounded corners. The original entrance was located in the south facade and is still recognizable as such. The house is constructed in brick with blocked corner pilasters and is finished with a cornice with carved balusters between which the windows of a mezzanine are placed. The front facade is five bays wide with a central projection, above which a roof dormer with claw-pieces and a semicircular crown with carved work. The original entrance was in the central projection, which around 1860 was altered to the present, strikingly wide glazed frontage with pilasters. Above this is still the original window with the carved surround. In front of the entrance lies a stone step with a few treads. The rear facade is dominated by the room extended over three of the five bays. The three-metre extended room has rounded corners and an accentuated central section, in which there are glass doors in a surround of pilasters on the ground floor and carved work on the first floor. Further on the ground floor a step with a few treads and on the first floor a balcony. The side facades show in principle a similar arrangement. They are nearly blind. Only the rounded extension on the west side has glazed windows with glazing bars on both storeys and the basement. On the ground floor there is a secondary entrance added in 1947 above a basement access with above it, in place of a window, a blind opening. On the east side this arrangement has been altered by the addition of the entrance portal from 1860. There the window for the stairwell above the entrance is prominently present. Although the interior of the house has been affected by later modifications and to a lesser extent by the division into two residential units, the original layout is still clearly recognizable and much of the decorative finishes are preserved. The original main axis of the house runs in a north-south direction on the ground floor. On the first floor this axis is rotated a quarter turn. In the main axis lie the hall with behind it the room. Around this four apartments are grouped as symmetrically as possible. The original stairwell is located in the eastern part of the house. Here is still the oak staircase with railings with carved balusters. Of the interior finish, much is preserved particularly on the ground floor in the left front room, the hall and the room and the right back room, further the stairwell and the finish in the basement. In the room on the left front there is a ceiling in simple Louis XIV style. The wooden fireplace in the same style was here reinstalled after war damage after 1945. The painted panel is presumed to be 19th century, further wooden doors in surround. The hall has a partly restored marble floor with stucco finish on the walls and ceiling. It is striking that this finish fits the layout and rhythm of the hall in its reduced form. Possibly this stuccowork is in neo-Louis XIV style. In any case there is a striking difference with the stuccowork in the room which is of a much more subtle and refined execution. The room has a marble wainscot above which are plastered walls and a plastered ceiling. The whole designed in very fine Louis XIV style. With this, kinship with the stuccowork of Huis Baarn presents itself. The style of works could possibly be that of Jan van Logteren or Jan van der Streng. The room has rounded corners, in which openings for stoves were later made on the inside. Further double wooden doors in surround to the hall and the back step and single doors to the adjacent rooms. The room on the right back has a simple Louis XIV ceiling comparable to that of the library. The fireplace has been renewed here in Empire style, with a reused older painted panel. As at Spanderswoud and Jachtlust, a window is found here at the place of the chimney breast, which can be closed by means of a mirror. In the basement various rooms, including the basement kitchen furthermore beamed ceilings, various original cupboards, tiled floors and large ochre-glazed tiles on the walls, pump with natural stone water tank.

Valuation

The MAIN HOUSE is of general importance:

- because of its architectural-historical value as an example of a monumental, fine house from the period 1725-1730 of which the exterior and interior, despite some damage, still form a clearly recognizable unity;

- because of its prominent visual location.