Over Holland

English translation

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Description

Complex component 1

MAIN BUILDING COUNTRY HOUSE OVER HOLLAND.

Main building constructed in red brick, the oldest part of which dates from 1707. The house is depicted as such in 1719 in De Zegenpraalende Vecht by Stoopendael. On the New map of Loenen by C.C. van Bloemswaerdt from 1726 it can be seen that the house had a projecting central risalit on the rear side. The house was provided, between 1732 and 1755, when the country estate was owned by Jan van Mekeren and Margaretha Rutgers, on both sides with a rectangular one-window-bay deep and two window-bay wide wing under hipped roof and enriched internally amongst other things with a chimneypiece with wainscoting in Marôt style in the anteroom to the north of the entrance and with a pump with fountain with very rich woodcarving in Marôt style in the side room (boudoir) on the ground floor on the south side of the house. In that same side room left and right an 18th century lining with behind the right wall hidden a 'secret' oak wooden staircase to the upper floor. Shortly after 1755, when the country estate passed into the hands of Mr. Willem Straalman, the house was extended on the rear (west) side by a deep rectangular annex containing a two-storey high cupola hall. The extraordinarily rich woodcarving of the window frame of the central window with portico on the rear side of the cupola hall likewise dates from this period, as does the bell tower (with bell cast in 1704) and likewise extraordinarily rich corbel as facade termination on the rear side (corbel and bell tower undergoing restoration in 2010). By the subsequently excavation of the formal basin into a landscaped pond, the gable facing the Straatweg came to stand in water. The waterline of the pond at that location extends to approximately the width of the string courses, which close off the gable section facing the Straatweg. The annex of the cupola hall shortly after 1755 has from of old represented a very high image-determining value as seen from the Straatweg. At the time of the last or second-to-last mentioned extension the house was jacked up 1.5 to 2 metres. One of probably several reasons for this jacking up was that this made it possible to have a vista from the cupola hall over the dyke into the sight avenue situated on the main axis in the far park. By the jacking up a high portico staircase was needed, which was then positioned on the central risalit of the main entrance on the east side in ashlar with splayed steps, provided on either side with seven chamfered stones placed in a rounded arch with between them a wrought-iron chain link. The entire house is roofed by a multiple hipped roof with valley gutters and covered with Oegstgeest roof tiles, installed in the second half of the 19th century, when the country estate was owned by Anthony Hendrik Clifford. The house is throughout provided with multi-pane sash windows, of which those in the cupola hall are of unusually high proportion. The windows still partly have shutters. Furthermore blind niches at the height of all storeys in the annex on the rear side and on the front. On the roof four tall straight chimneys with moulded ashlar string courses and in the roof three roof dormers. Interior: the basement, the ground floor and first floor are crossed by a central corridor with rooms on either side. In the basement (barrel vaults) on the northeast side the kitchen with fireplace and pump and an 18th century crockery cupboard with a broad corbel moulding. In the 'inner chamber' on the south side a pump and a broad 18th century cupboard with rounded corners. The lower floor has not only a service staircase to the ground floor but also a 'secret' staircase which emerges behind one of the four rounded doors in the corners of the great hall. The room on the ground floor to the south of the entrance is richly decorated in stucco in rococo style (ceiling and walls), mirrors and marble fireplace in rococo style, probably from the period of Van Mekeren. In the room opposite a chimneypiece and marble fireplace likewise with above it an 18th century mirror with frames and wainscoting. Two painted wallpapers with Arcadian views on either side of the chimneypiece have been preserved. The room opposite on the north side of the house has wainscoting with cupboards all around; the cupboards left and right beside the window are provided with glazed doors. In the cupola hall an intact preserved ensemble of seven tall painted wallpapers in framing in a coherent pictorial programme. The hall shows rounded corners, a floor from the construction period and a stucco barrel vault. The windows in the hall are, like all windows in the house, provided with interior shutters. Furthermore rounded panel doors from the second half of the 18th century. On the second floor two large 18th century cupboards with overhanging corbels which are likewise mentioned in the auction notice of 1799. Preserved original roof truss structure, partly restored at the end of the 20th century. On the attic floor the (restored) drying racks and bedsteads. The house was restored externally and internally at the beginning of the 21st century.

Valuation

The MAIN BUILDING COUNTRY HOUSE OVER HOLLAND OF THE HISTORICAL COUNTRY ESTATE OVER HOLLAND is of general importance by virtue of

- the cultural-historical value as an intact preserved country house on the Vecht from the 17th and 18th centuries as an expression of a socio-economic and recreational development and tradition from the 17th and 18th centuries, whereby wealthy private individuals from a viewpoint of exploitation and pleasure developed the grounds on either side of the Vecht into country estate landscapes.

- the architectural-historical value as a very intact example of a monumental country house on the Vecht, which after the building campaign from the end of the 17th century and two extensions around the middle of the 18th century has since been left untouched;

- the high degree of integrity and authenticity both externally and internally in particular the very high image-determining and aesthetic value of the house with its gable situated in the pond with string courses and corbel and bell tower in rich Louis XV style as seen from the Straatweg; and the integrity, rarity and aesthetic value of the cupola hall in its coherent architecture with painted wallpapers in an iconographic programme as an integral component;

- by virtue of the ensemble value as one in the series of country houses of historical country estates along the Vecht.