Nijenburg

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

Component 2

Description

HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT, eighteenth century and later. The country estate Nijenburg has an early eighteenth-century symmetrical layout of grand character: despite the partial landscaping of the early 19th century, the spacious Baroque design is still completely present. The house and park layout date from 1709-1710, as do the Hercules sculptures; from the house runs a long and wide sight line to the northwest. The house site is surrounded by a square moat with sides of 200 metres. The specific connection between the house and park of the Dutch country estate around 1700, pursued in the Baroque concept, by means of a hierarchical structure of principal and cross axes, shows at Nijenburg a cosmological added value unique in the Netherlands: at the beginning of summer on 21 June, the setting sun illuminates the entire sight line (Westerlaan) and the hall located centrally in the house. The southwest-northeast running Kennemerstraatweg has over time become a very busy traffic route, which divides the complex significantly into two parts; on the northwest side of the road lies the Heilooër forest with the sight line (Westerlaan), other old lane and road alignments and the Kattenberg; on the other side of the road lie the moated house site and several forest complexes and lanes, as well as the coachhouse and porter's lodge; the house site contains symmetrical pond features, kitchen gardens with garden walls and the Hercules sculptures; two bridges over the moat provide access to the house site. In the early nineteenth century, the park underwent a change in landscape style, as stated, with preservation of the older Baroque layout of the park. This early nineteenth-century layout in landscape style has remained recognizable in the planting and path pattern in the Heilooër forest and in the forest complexes adjoining the house site. From the course of the walking paths in the forest complexes, it can be determined that from this time not only sight lines within the park itself were created, but also to the open land on the east and southeast side and to the open land and dunes on the west and northwest side: these sight lines form part of the layout. The layout consists of:

a. the Heilooër forest and the Overbos located on the opposite (west) side of the railway line

b. the house site

c. forest parcels

d. lanes

e. meadows

Re a.: the part of the park located on the northwest side of the Kennemerstraatweg, the Heilooër forest and to the west of the railway line the Overbos, has been public land since its establishment; there are bicycle and walking paths, in part along old alignments. The most important structurally determining element of this forest is the Westerlaan, the sight axis from the house, first quarter eighteenth century, perpendicular to the road: a wide grass avenue almost one kilometre long, planted on both sides with double rows of beeches, which stand slightly raised relative to the grass verge and interrupted roughly midway by a roundabout; since the construction of the railway line in the nineteenth century, the view along the lane has been partially broken; the axis continues to the west of the railway line; this latter part of the layout, with forest and walking paths on both sides, has since been called the Overbos; the Heilooër forest consists mainly of old standing deciduous timber, intersected by winding walking paths and here and there an open space; along the road a small rectangular meadow; opposite the northern approach drive (see under d.) lies a small steep hill with an old linden tree, the so-called Kattenberg, according to tradition erected around 1707 with material excavated from the ponds of Nijenburg.

Re b.: the house site is surrounded by a square moat, first quarter eighteenth century, which bulges inward on both the front and rear sides of the symmetrically placed house and in its axis, on the front side as a wide moat (to be seen as an extension of the Westerlaan), becoming broader towards the house in pond form, on the rear side, also symmetrically as a two-pronged fork as it were embracing the rear house; directly in front of the house runs a path (the extension of the Torenlaan: see under d.), which via a bridge (see under 5) over the northeast arm and the southwest arm of the moat passes into respectively the northern and southern approach drives. Diagonally behind the house lie on either side the two partly still walled kitchen gardens/orchards in the east corner and south corner of the moat: the north garden is now in use as a small meadow, the south garden has a young planting of fruit trees. On the northwest side of the path along the house lie on either side of the pond old deciduous timber groves with winding paths, the northern one is called Beukenplein, the southern one Dennenplein.

Re c.: there are three forest parcels along the road: the Sterrenbos (north of the house site) and the Engelschewerk (south of the house site). In the Sterrenbos some sections of straight lane can still be recognized; the Engelschewerk still has the virtually intact winding path structure from the period 1816-1821 and was probably designed by Leonard van Delen, who was related to the Van Foreest family. Van Delen had both a surveying and military background. In this part, which was also called the Delensbos, an open-air theatre called Comédie was laid out around 1800. The slight terrain elevation with round grass field in the south corner of the Engelschewerk with a view of the meadows on the east side preserves the memory of the battery originally located here. Furthermore, north of the Sterrenbos a strip of park forest called the Zondagskrocht from the 19th century with a winding path alignment, which offers the walker views over the open land on the east side.

Re d.: from the road two approach drives provide access to the house site; under a right angle bend they, over the two bridges, connect to the path that runs along the house, parallel to the front facade; the two approach drives run parallel immediately beside the northeast and southwest moat arms; they are irregularly planted with both oak and beech and have a gravel surface. The Torenlaan is the extension in the northeast direction of the path in front of the house; the lane is oriented towards the tower of the Waag in Alkmaar.

Re e.: the meadows to the east of the house are included in the complex to guarantee an unobstructed view from and to the house and gardens.

Valuation

The HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT of the country estate Nijenburg is of general cultural-historical importance:

- because of its age;

- because of the high degree of integrity of the early eighteenth-century geometric structure;

- because of the nineteenth-century park layout in landscape style;

- because of the high architectural values, particularly of the ground plan.