Landhuis, Landgoed De Wittenburg 1

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 complex component 1

The main component of the historical country estate De Wittenburg is formed by the RESIDENTIAL HOUSE of the country house type in Neo-Dutch Renaissance, built in 1899-1900 on the instructions of Jonkheer J.M. Speelman after a design by architect J.J. van Nieukerken, in collaboration with his sons Marie and Johan van Nieukerken. For the execution of the stucco work in the interior, the office collaborated with The Hague sculptor A. Alexander. The Frisian furniture maker Terpstra provided the wooden sculptural work in, among others, the billiards room and a Hindeloper wall and in the dining room.

N.B. During the Second World War the building sustained war damage at the entrance section and in the interior several parquet floors and wall panelling were seriously damaged. The front steps to the entrance have recently been completely renewed.

Description

The country house is composed of various building sections, some with stepped gables, which are grouped around a tall castle tower under a tent roof. Above the basement the building has two storeys under hipped and gabled roofs with different ridge heights and directions, covered with slates in Maasland bond. The facades are built up in grey brickwork in English bond with heavy ornamental wrought-iron wall anchors in various places. The profiled sandstone cordons are provided with carved animal figures at the corners, such as a dragon. Surrounding profiled gutter line on sandstone consoles. Predominantly multi-pane (sash) windows and windows with cross windows of yellow sandstone and shutters for the lower windows, painted with a heraldic motif. The lintels above the facade openings are executed in yellow sandstone and above them bricked relieving arches with yellow sandstone ornamental blocks. In the jambs of some windows sandstone ornamental blocks and undersills.

Front facade (north) at the castle square with to the right of centre a risalit three bays wide rising high with a stepped gable. To the left of the risalit the main entrance with double door under a semicircular fanlight within a plaster list with false joints under a pediment. On the centrally positioned middle mullion of the 14-pane varnished doors a knight figure with shield and ornaments in Neo-Renaissance style. On either side of the door two small windows with security bars. In the roof section three small dormer windows under small hipped roofs with finials on the ridge. The west facade is formed by a double stepped gable of two building volumes offset in relation to each other and varying in height. On the rear facade (south) a risalit three bays wide as on the front facade. The window series to the left of the risalit is crowned with a small stepped gable. In front of the risalit and the window series a wide raised terrace with natural stone balustrade and steps down to the lower garden terrace with quay wall at the pond. Double glass doors to the terrace in the central window series of the risalit. The raised terrace is flanked by two projecting building volumes under hipped roofs. The west facade of the house consists of three building sections offset in relation to each other. On the left a section of one-and-a-half storeys under a balcony with bricked balustrade and on the piano nobile in the corner a raised terrace with natural stone balustrade. In the middle the extended staircase tower of two storeys under a hipped roof. On the right a narrow bay with stepped gable. The tower is divided by three cordons and in all facades cross windows.

On the roof in total five bricked chimneys.

INTERIOR The piano nobile of De Wittenburg has been largely preserved in plan and detailing and contains, among others, the following interior components. Vestibule and staircase hall with black and white chequered marble floor and heavy oak beamed ceiling on natural stone consoles. Plastered walls with facade openings under heavy bricked round arches with sandstone ornamental blocks. Draught lobby with double door under a semicircular fanlight with glazing bars. Heavy dark oak front staircase with panel wainscoting and robust balustrade with decoratively carved frieze and substantial newel post. In a similarly robust Neo-Dutch Renaissance style the hall and the adjoining (former) dining room are designed. Hall with painted beamed ceiling and a monumental fireplace executed in rich woodcarving with marble columns and Doric capital. Cast plaster frieze with putti. In the dining room an oak panel wainscoting and a monumental fireplace with carved sandstone caryatids under a heavy wooden list and a plastered flue with ogive profiling. The round-arched doorway between the rooms is flanked on the hall side by pilasters with Ionic capitals and on the dining room side with a list in rich woodcarving.

In the (former) library a monumental chimney breast with wooden frieze on carved sandstone consoles, wainscoting of briefcase panels and profiled door lists.

Salon in Neo-Rococo with wainscoting, tiled fireplace surround with marble chimney breast and stucco ceiling. In the panels paintings on canvas with Arcadian landscapes and above the fireplace a group of figures.

Valuation

The house De Wittenburg with its associated interior from 1899-1900 is of general importance because of its cultural, architectural-historical and typological value

- as the main component of the originally 16th-century country estate with buildings and park layout from the nineteenth and 20th centuries.

- as an intact and representative example of Neo-Dutch Renaissance characteristic of the architectural oeuvre of architects Van Nieukerken and as one of the first large country house-castles in a considered historical manner from the late 19th century. The country house is highly intact in main form, use of materials and detailing, both externally and internally with internally varied style interiors according to function.

Furthermore because of its ensemble value and is of urban planning importance because of the historically functional, spatial and stylistic coherence with the other complex components and as part of the landed estates zone along the Rijksstraatweg in Wassenaar.