Historische aanleg, BY Biljoen 1 Rozendaal

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 component 2: HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT.

The historical garden and park layout surrounding Biljoen Castle and at Beekhuizen dates originally from the end of the 18th century, when it was laid out within an older, formal structure of (partly still existing) avenues, routes and watercourses.

In 1777 J.F.W. Baron van Spaen of Biljoen inherited the castle and surrounding grounds. One of his first major alterations to the then existing layout dates from circa 1780 when the outer moat to the north of Overhagen, a former manor house that was united with Biljoen in 1711, was excavated into a large pond in landscape style. This pond still belongs to the layout of Biljoen. Until circa 1784 a French-classical layout lay directly around the castle, as can be seen on the Hottinger map of 1783. The access avenue was perpendicular to the castle, with ornamental gardens symmetrically positioned with respect to each other in front of the courtyard. The symmetrical central axis ran behind the house between ornamental gardens and ended in a menagerie. From 1784 the garden architect J.G. Michael was employed at Biljoen. He realised, among other things, the immediate surroundings of the castle and the pond with the islets in landscape style to the east of the castle. His son J.D. Zocher jr. took over the work in 1822 and among other things connected the then excavated castle moat around the castle and the pond before Overhagen with each other. This layout still exists both in structure and in detail. The direct connection between the moat and the pond before Overhagen was broken around the Second World War.

In 1820, two years before Zocher undertook the last alterations to the park in the time of J.F.W. Baron van Spaen, Van Spaen had the walking guide "Geldersch Arkadia or a walk through Bilioen and Beekhuizen" published. This guide mentions the course of the walk and names details of it, which can still be observed to this day. The guide also discusses the creation of Biljoen and Beekhuizen. Three years later a walking map of Beekhuizen was published.

From as early as 1774 Van Spaen had the terrain 'Beekhuizen', located to the north of the castle and featuring large natural height differences, which until that time was covered in heather, planted with pines for timber production. By this means he could also create a fashionable "Swiss" landscape. Van Spaen developed in this period, entirely in the spirit of the time, presumably with his garden architect the idea of creating an ideal landscape at Beekhuizen, inspired by the Greek regions of Tempe and Arcadia, as these were celebrated by the classics. Beekhuizen was officially opened on 29 August 1790. There were, among other things, walks laid out that led past a log cabin, a Great Cascade, a Hermitage, a winding brook (Beekhuizen brook), fish ponds and the Great Fountain. The brook was an artificially dug, so-called imposed brook with a bed of clay and field stones. In various places Van Spaen had text boards placed bearing quotations in verse form from classical and modern writers which had as subject matter idealised landscape descriptions. By 1820 the boards had disappeared. There was also in the layout a Chinese temple, a small cascade with a hermitage and a Chinese bridge. These objects too have disappeared. Presumably in the first quarter of the 19th century the inn (now used as a dwelling house) was built to the south of the large pond.

"Geldersch Arkadia" led and leads the walker from the north side of the park of Biljoen over the still existing avenue on the other side of the Zutphensestraatweg to Beekhuizen. This avenue ends perpendicular to the also still existing Ossendaalselaan in Beekhuizen, where the 1820 walking guide offers the walker two options: he could go left to the still existing Keienberg, where a walking path laid out in spiral fashion leads to the top. The path crossed 16 avenues, which met star-wise at a point on the Keienberg. This layout of paths and avenues is only slightly still recognisable in the field. From the Keienberg the walk continues via winding paths northwards in the strongly undulating terrain along the large pond and the brook in the direction of the original high point of the layout, the section where the Great Cascade was located. On the north side the layout ends behind the still existing heart-shaped pond.

If the walker went to the right the walk led over two "hills", the Ossenberg and the Kamerdalseberg. According to the walking guide the Ossenberg offered a finer view than the Keienberg: at the top the walker had a view in which 47 church towers were visible. The highest "hill" was the Kamerdalseberg, "where the view, in all directions, provides an even greater variety". From the Kamerdalseweg a path in gentle bends led to the north side of Beekhuizen. This walk over the Ossenberg and Kamerdalseberg to the north side of Beekhuizen has been preserved in structure to this day.

From 1793 to 1810 Van Spaen pursued little activity. From 1810 to 1815 the garden architect J.D. Zocher sr. (1763-1817) worked at Biljoen and Beekhuizen. J.D. Zocher jr. (1791-1870) took over the work in 1822. He connected, among other things, the excavated castle moat of Biljoen and the pond before Overhagen with each other so that one large water body was created which is lined with oaks. In this pond lies a round island with a natural stone plinth on which originally a 'Diana' stood, presumably dating from the time of J.F.W. Baron van Spaen. In Geldersch Arkadia the view of this islet is mentioned, "which perhaps one day (might it be after many years!) will contain the burial place of the present owner". The ponds have a water discharge constructed in brick, covered with natural stone coping plates and provided with wooden sluice gates. In the French period a shooting range was laid out to the south of the large pond at Beekhuizen, which is still clearly perceptible in the terrain.

Since Van Spaen's death in 1827 little has changed in the structure and layout of the park of Biljoen and Beekhuizen. In 1847 a hotel was built at Beekhuizen, which burned down in 1892 and was then rebuilt. In the 1980s the hotel burned down again. The Beekhuizen Way was somewhat widened and somewhat relocated. The furnishings of the park section at Beekhuizen have now almost completely disappeared; in the Beekhuizen brook, however, mill remains can still be found in a few places (the mill of the Kazenmakersgat and the mill of the Keienberg behind the so-called Muldershuis), the stepped waterfall at the pond at Beekhuizen and the ice house remain. The layout of Beekhuizen to the north of the Straatweg has been reduced on the west side by residential building. But despite these encroachments the layout of the 18th-century "Arcadian" landscape layout with walks and watercourses, the Beekhuizen brook with its ponds and cascades, the various sight lines, the open meadow area as a transition zone between Biljoen and Beekhuizen, the open terrain to the west of Biljoen, the older formal main structure of avenues, routes and watercourses around the castle and the filling with an early landscape layout, the pond area between Biljoen and Overhagen, has been preserved.

Around the castle various garden ornaments have been preserved in the park, among others natural stone plinths, vases, access gates, a dog house, an ice house and some simple bridges. At Beekhuizen stands an ice house.

Valuation

The HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT belonging to the historical country estate Biljoen is of general importance:

- as a representative example of a layout in landscape style which was created in phases, located within the in its main lines still existing early 18th-century formal layout;

- owing to the structure, partly also in detail, fairly well preserved consisting of avenues, routes, paths, watercourses and ponds;

- owing to the importance of the layout for the history of garden and landscape architecture;

- owing to the presence of garden ornaments, of which some formed part of the 18th-century layout and others came to belong to the country estate in the course of the 19th century;

- owing to the functional-spatial relationship with the other components of the country estate.