Historische aanleg, Landgoed Middachten bij 3

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.

The HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT of Middachten is characterized by a hierarchical composition, in which a geometric pattern of avenues, watercourses, meadows and woods are oriented towards the moated castle with outbuildings, located in the centre of the country estate. This centrally directed, spatial dynamism of the layout works primarily inward, yet the expansive landscape surrounding it is formally involved in the composition of the layout. The historical garden and park layout of Middachten has gone through different phases. The core is formed by the originally medieval house with its forecourt and outbuildings situated within a moat, as can be seen on the oldest map by Van Geelkercken (1652). The approach road to the castle, the oval space in front of the forecourt and the rectangular terraced extensions (bastions) at the forecourt are still present today. At the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Dutch-classical layout was created, of which the rectangular form, the tree-lined boundaries, part of the path pattern, the moat and lane structure now remain. The rectangular garden layout around the castle is moated on the east and south sides (circa 1700), while the west and north sides are enclosed by a garden wall. On the south side, the moat, on the longitudinal axis of the layout, encloses a semicircular protrusion surrounded by boundary planting. Parallel to the north wall runs a transverse axis along the house. This lane with late eighteenth-century oak trees leads to the administrative building (right) and to a long pond, the Paardengracht (Horse's Ditch) (left). This watercourse runs diagonally in a north-easterly direction and functions as a Grand Canal. Successively, in the eighteenth century along this water axis lay the bleach yard, a star-shaped wood, a duck decoy and a fish pond. Currently the moat is flanked by a small ornamental wood (Kooibosch) and the duck decoy. Behind the pond lies a stand of alder coppice (Faisantenbosch), which is closed off by a double row of oak trees (Eikenstraat). The outer terrain is determined by a historical pattern of lanes with parallel and perpendicular avenues. The various cross lanes and sheep paths run through until reaching the Middachterbos, ending at the Willemsberg as the centre of a star-shaped lane structure, which in the past formed part of the hunting grounds of the House of Orange. The Middachter Allee forms the dividing line between the flat pastureland with Middachten house and the hilly terrain of the Veluwezoom. This lane is planted with double rows of beech trees (replanting partly after the Second World War and part in 1957). From the Middachter Allee, the curved approach lane, planted with a double row of trees, runs to the roundel. The approach road is flanked by pastures and an orchard, which is now obscured by rows of rhododendrons. The theatrical build-up of the narrow lane to the expansive beech-lined roundel is concluded with a frontal view of the house. The entire composition of the neo-formal design of the garden layout was created by landscape architect H.A.C. Poortman (circa 1900-1909), with some modifications by French landscape architect R.E. André (1908), based on the eighteenth-century geometric garden. The structure of the seventeenth-century lane pattern and moat system formed the framework for the new layout. Poortman divided the garden into different compartments, each forming a garden with its own character. Listed clockwise, first the orangery and flower garden and the orchard (north-east corner), the east parterre, which in 1908 was replaced by a design by André, the maze (south-east corner), the south parterre on the axis of the layout, the green theatre (south-west corner), the west parterre and finally in the north-west corner a combination of a croquet lawn, a tennis court and a rose garden (now called the Lage Tuin). Elements from the nineteenth-century landscape period, for which E. Petzold developed a plan (1878), consist of tree groups and some exotic plants. These were incorporated by Poortman in his design. In the course of the twentieth century, the garden layout was increasingly simplified and finally reduced to grass parterres. Since the 1980s, various restoration plans for the garden have been made and restoration of the garden layout has begun. The heart of the layout is formed by the house with forecourt and outbuildings. In the middle of the forecourt, Poortman designed an oval flower decoration, which around 1908, according to André's design, was changed into an oval boxwood parterre de broderie still present. The forecourt is covered with gravel, only for the utility buildings is a rectangular section paved with brick pavers. From the Grand Hall in the house there is a fine view of the sunken parterre de broderie (south), now a grass parterre, which in the middle is divided into two equal sections by a path. This axis emphasizes the sight line from the house to the IJssel, which is now disturbed by the motorway (1976) right behind the house. On either side, the south parterre is bounded by three planted coulisses. The south-eastern garden section consists of a rose garden restored in 1993 according to a design by gardener De Bruin, with the help of Poortman, from 1926. On the moat side is an old eighteenth-century beech hedge. East of the house is a grass parterre with, among other things, a cedar and two ginkgos which may come from the landscape layout. This east parterre originally had a sunken location, but around 1960 was filled in with earth. The orangery garden in the north-east corner has had a formal layout again since 1995, according to Poortman's design. Next to it is a herb garden. The sunken herb garden is accessible via two sandstone flights of two steps with a socle on either side. On the north-west side of the house is the neo-formal layout from the beginning of the twentieth century, currently planted with annuals. A wooden trellis and rose training form the division of, among other things, the tennis court. On the west side of the house is a semi-circular grass parterre bordered by borders (circa 1909). The south-west section consists of a green theatre of yew (circa 1901). This is a very rare form of garden infill in the Netherlands. The garden layout that Poortman realized at Middachten contained on the one hand historicizing elements from the Dutch-classical layout and on the other hand contained contemporary elements, such as the flower garden. All paths that cross the garden layout have a loam-gravel surface.

Valuation

HISTORICAL GARDEN AND PARK LAYOUT, belonging to the historical country estate Middachten of particular cultural and garden-historical importance:

- because of the well-preserved seventeenth-century moat and lane structure

- because of the layout in neo-geometric style according to Poortman's design from the beginning of the twentieth century within a classical framework of moats and lanes

- as a representative example of an originally formally laid out country estate, which at the beginning of the twentieth century was re-arranged in neo-geometric style

- because of its importance for the history of Dutch garden and landscape architecture

- because of the functional-spatial coherence with the other components of the country estate