Villa Oeverberg

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.

To the south-west of the village centre of Kessel, on a steep Maas terrace, lies the VILLA 'Oeverberg'. The rear facade offers views over the Maas. In front of the villa is a circular DRIVEWAY. From the Veersepad, a GATE between monumental GATE PIERS provides access to the grounds which still contain various monumental specimen trees as remnants of the formerly extensive castle garden.

The Villa was built from 1870 to 1872 on the instructions of the legendary Baron Frederik Hendrik Charles van Keverberg ('Baron Frits'), the last lord of Kessel Castle. He spent his final years here until his death in 1876. The building is constructed in castle style and shows influences of the relatively rare, romantic English Neo-Gothic.

In the 1950s, a two-storey conservatory with rectangular footprint was added to the rear facade of the villa. This is largely executed in style. Architect J.J. Rijs (Venlo) modernised several interior spaces in 1963-1964. A large part of the originally surrounding castle garden has since been sold and built upon.

Description.

To separate the front courtyard, there is on the Veersepad a wrought-iron swing gate with pointed spears between brick piers built in Flemish bond. The substantial piers stylistically match the villa. They stand on a broader built-out base and are crowned with a crenellated balustrade provided with cemented coping lists. In the piers are on the front and rear sides narrow round-arched blind windows on cemented drip ledges and ornamented with cord mouldings.

The villa has a rectangular footprint and comprises four storeys: a basement extending under the entire building, a principal floor, a first floor and an attic storey with slightly sloping hipped roof set back behind a crenellated balustrade. Halfway along the left facade an crenellated tower is projecting on a square footprint. The tower, also comprising four storeys, has a raised top storey in which the staircase to the roof of the main volume is located. On the corner of the front and right facade, a wind wall is built in line with the front facade.

All facades of the brick building, built in Flemish bond, are symmetrical and are articulated vertically by angle pilasters with crenellations. Horizontal articulation is achieved by various window series which decrease in height from the principal floor per storey. These are round-arched four-light windows with V-shaped glazing bar divided fanlights in the attic storey and basement and simplified steel windows (since 1964, lower part without glazing bars) with likewise fanlights in the principal floor and first storey. To restrict the entry of daylight these arched windows are alternated with blind arched windows on which imitation windows were formerly painted (now unpainted). The windows have cemented drip ledges and, like the doors, are enlivened with likewise cord mouldings drawn around the edge. These are consistently carried through all facades and across all storeys. The cord mouldings also occur in coupled form and are, at the windows in the central bay of each facade, drawn through to the drip ledges. Crenellations and 'murder holes' of the crowning balustrade are covered with a cemented list.

In the centre of the front facade, beneath a round-arched one-and-a-half-brick lintel, is the main entrance, consisting of a moulded frame of profiled door jambs and head, in which is a glazed panelled door with side lights and a fanlight with detailing as aforementioned. Before the door is a broad fanning-out stone staircase with landing and iron railings. In the stairwell body, whose cemented side walls contain arched openings, there is a service room. The landing rests on stone segmental arches creating space for a basement entrance accessible via two step stairs perpendicular to the main staircase. The approximately four metre high wind wall in the corner of the front and right facade serves to shelter a terrace situated in front of the right facade. The crenellated wall with corner pilaster is enlivened and detailed with blind windows as aforementioned and otherwise possesses three blind oculi framed with cemented lists. The rooms of the lightly modernised interior are grouped around a centrally located stairwell, consisting of stairs around a void and stairs with quarter turns. The basement extends under the entire building, is accessible via doors in the front and rear facades and contains various rooms, mostly separated from each other by arched openings, including various storage and supply cellars, former laundry and service kitchen, central heating room and coal storage. For a basement the rooms are very richly executed. Important features include among others remnants of stucco work lists, a hand-operated goods lift, built-in storage compartments, natural stone floor tiles and cast-iron door fittings. Of the principal floor, which among others contains the hall, former reception room and enlarged living room, especially important are: various deep round-arched door recesses with casements and V-shaped fanlights; the partly original wainscotting, tiled floors and hardstone thresholds. Various ceilings (now partly no longer visible due to secondary, lowered ceilings) are ornamented with stucco work and stucco lustro. Particularly notable are the cast-iron blocks placed along the tops of the walls, provided with lion's head and fittings, as part of a suspension system for wall tapestries. On the first floor and attic storey are located, off a landing and a corridor leading to the tower, various bedrooms and former servants' rooms. The roof truss structures consist in part of iron profile beams with unusual screw-bolt connections, openwork cast-iron consoles and tie rods (in the tower). The early use of these materials in house construction is remarkable. Also remarkable is the use of cast iron for various staircases. Furthermore there is a progressive warm-air heating installation. This consists of two adjacent channels running from the basement to the roof and presumably respectively served as smoke outlet channel and heat discharge channel. The central heating room was located in the basement. Via various iron doors distributed throughout the house the heated air could, if desired, be admitted into a specific room.

Valuation.

The villa 'Oeverberg', including swing gate, gate piers and driveway, is of general importance.

The object has cultural-historical values. It is important in relation to the legendary Baron Frederik Hendrik Charles van Keverberg, the last lord of Kessel Castle. Furthermore as a characteristic and early example of a socio-economic development in the second half of the nineteenth century, namely the creation of villa complexes on approach roads outside the village centres. The object is further, with all its component parts, of importance for the typological development of estates with villa construction. Finally it is of great importance because of its pioneering character, particularly expressed in the very early and to some extent rather rare application in house construction of cast-iron staircases, roof truss structures with iron profile beams, cast-iron consoles and tie rods, and a progressive technical installation.

The object has architectural-historical values. The applied building style, the aforementioned special material use and the technical installation in the interior are of importance for the history of architecture and building technology. The object is furthermore of importance because of the high-quality aesthetic qualities of the architectural design, the ornamentation and detailing of the exterior and various preserved elements in the interior. The object is further of importance because of the unity and quality of the component parts, namely the villa, the swing gate on the street between stylistically matching piers, the curved driveway and various specimen monumental trees as remnants of the original castle garden.

The object has ensemble values. It forms part of the historic, open plot development on the south side of the Veersepad, a connecting road between the village centre of Kessel and the hamlet of Veers, which only became built up in the second half of the nineteenth century. By virtue of its distinctive silhouette and situation on a steep Maas terrace the object is of particular significance for the appearance of the village. The object is of importance because of its integrity and recognisability and possesses great architectural-historical, building-technical and typological rarity.