The fate of the Eikenrode estate in Loosdrecht has turned from bright to dim in a matter of only two months. Last April I could report that Eikenrode was one of seven estates to receive a restoration grant from the big Dutch VSBfonds. This grant was preceded by another grant five months earlier: in December 2006 RACM decided to fund the restoration of the coach house/orangerie with an amount of € 293,575.00.1
Coach house at Eikenrode after the fire
On December 15th, 2007 (almost to the day one year after the RACM grant was awarded), while all necessary paperwork for the upgrade of the structure to several apartments was ready, said coach house/orangerie caught fire and was severely damaged. According to a local source the fire was probably started intentionally, because the empty building was cut off from any gas or electricity lines.2
Luckily for the owners of Eikenrode, RACM came with a quick assessment that, although many original features were lost, the remains of the building were still considered to be a monument, which meant the building activities could go ahead.
But the next blow came by the end of January 2008. Not in the form of flames this time, but in the form of nervous banks announcing the public sale of Eikenrode on March 4th, 2008. What happened? Since 1974 Eikenrode had been owned by the local counsil, in whose hands the estate deteriorated. Plasmeijer started his reconstructive work on the estate in the year 2000, with silent support from the local counsil -who still owned the grounds surrounding the house. Both parties decided in April 2007 to formaly transfer the complete estate to Plasmeijer, the new ‘lord of the manor’ with two restoration grants in his pocket to back his plans up. This transfer process took a while and has yet to be finalised, reason for the participating banks to withdraw their support and announce the public auction.3
The bank’s action has been condemned and deemed ‘premature’ by both the local counsil and Plasmeijer. According to them, all parties are working hard to complete the transfer before March 4th. To be continued, I’m sure.
Edit @ February 25th 2008: I found a short ‘movie’ of the fire on YouTube, with some comments from a local at the end. The comment is in Dutch, ofcourse.
In that same month, owner Martien Plasmeijer received the largely symbolic title of Ambachtsheer van Mijnden en de beide Loosdrechten from his predecessor. [back]
The ink of my previous post wasn’t even used (let alone had time to dry) when more news about restoration projects came to light. The Dutch funding institution VSBfonds reports it will invest € 3,8m in the restoration of 7 estates in The Netherlands. The estates are:
Reconstruction work in progress at Twickel, October 2007
According to the VSB website, 9 restoration plans have been submitted by estates which were previously selected for the 2006 pilot. This selection was made in cooperation with RACM and PHB. It is the first time this grant has been awarded, if the pilot succeeds a new tender for the year 2007 will be announced.
Grants will only be awarded to restoration plans that comprise the full restoration of the estate. No money will be granted to partial restoration plans.
We have seen the announcement of two restoration projects in the last month, both in the province of Noord-Holland: Nijenburg (Heiloo) and Duinlust (Overveen).
Duinlust will see a restoration in the spirit of the design by the late nineteenth century architect Petzold, who redesigned the garden around a newly built house in the 1880′s. Current owner of the grounds is Staatsbosbeheer, the house is in use by a company and houses a fitness club and restaurant. The restoration plan is made by the Dutch Foundation for the preservation of privately owned estates (Stichting tot behoud van Particuliere Historische Buitenplaatsen -PHB), and will be realised by Royal Haskoning. More about these plans in later posts.
Nijenburg is owned by nature preservation society Natuurmonumenten. Together with Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser they will spend around € 350,000.00 on the restoration of the house and adjacent buildings, some early nineteenth century landscape features, as well as the restoration of older avenues. Also in the plans is a cleanup around a typical 17th century Dutch garden feature, the Kattenberg. This is a man made hill, often used as an elevated spot from which the surrounding countryside could be enjoyed. In most cases, the soil with which these elevations were made, came from one or more ponds that had to be dug out elsewhere in the garden.
The ‘Kattenberg’ at Nijenburg in September 2008. Photo by HvdE.
The theatre which is situated on the left side of this map (“De Comedie”), goes back to an original early nineteenth century design.
A main attraction at Nijenburg is the strait avenue forming the central axis from the front of the house towards the west: on the longest day, the 21st of June, this avenue provides a clear view at the setting sun.
Castle Sterkenburg, in Driebergen in the centre of The Netherlands, has received a sum of € 3.307.914,00 for several restoration projects. This is over 10% of the total sum granted for restorations this year by the Ministry for education, culture and science (OCW).
Sterkenburg, which is privately owned and currently in use as an apartment building, has retained one of its medieval features: the round tower. The rest of the current building is the result of additions from the 18th century and an all but complete rebuild in the 19th century. The restoration grants are all for the buildings on the premises: the castle itself, the gardener’s house and the coach house. Continue Reading »
Castle 