Historical Gardens

The previous owners closed Museum Beeckestijn in January 2006, to save money. The new owners (since last week) have already said they wanted to create a centre for garden and landscape architecture at the estate and to have the museum reopened.

The latest news is that the museum is going to have a flying start. The chairman of the Foundation of Friends of Beeckestijn (Stichting Vrienden van Beeckestijn) told Haarlems Dagblad the first exhibition will be staged in December 2007. The exhibition will revolve around the plans the new owners have concerning Beeckestijn’s future.

It is official: Beeckestijn as complete estate is saved (to the left: an image of only half the territory as pictured on the 1772 estate map by architect Johann Georg Michael).
Last Thursday evening (it only took them ten minutes) the Velsen council voted in favour of plans to exchange the estate against development plots elsewhere. This vote marks the end of over 5 years of uncertainty for the estate and the people involved. A lot of damage has been caused by the uncertainty: in the meantime the museum has closed and its collection has been distributed around the country. The garden is maintained on only a minimal level.

So the ambitious new owners have a lot of work cut out for themselves (see my two previous posts for more information about them). Their aim is to present a plan for a centre for garden and landscape architecture before the end of this year, and that will be a big task. The bottomline of today must be the fact that Beeckestijn will venture into a new period in its long history, though. Once again a period of hope commences.

(In my previous post I reflected on Beeckestijn as being eyed by two organisations -Cascade and Stichting Nationaal Tuinmuseum- in their efforts to create a garden museum in The Netherlands. Comments on the Cascade weblog indicate that they are currently not involved in talks about the future of Beeckestijn. To be continued, I’m sure.)

According to a report in Haarlems Dagblad, Beeckestijn will become a centre for garden and landscape architecture. A spokesman of Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser reportedly said as much in a meeting with the Velsen town council last Thursday. Later this year a they will present a plan, together with prospected co-owner Natuurmonumenten. Dutch garden history society Cascade have meanwhile teamed up with the Foundation for a Dutch National Garden Museum (Stichting Nationaal Tuinmuseum). Both organisations have cast an eye on Beeckestijn as a possible location for such a museum.

The Velsen town council is currently preparing a decision on the plan presented by the mayor and aldermen to exchange Beeckestijn against grounds nearby. The meeting of last Thursday must be seen as a step in that process. According to Haarlems Dagblad the council will probably agree with the plan. A decision is expected within a few weeks.

Interesting stories emerge from documents produced by the council of Velsen. Finally, the minutes of the last debates of the old council have been published in November (debates dating back to Januari and March 2006). It is fascinating to see how desparate the former council was to get Beeckestijn sold before the elections in March 2006. Staring into the headlights of the upcoming local elections -with devastating results predicted- the former council had the brilliant idea to upgrade the opinion on one of the bidders for Beeckestijn during a meeting in which these bids were discussed.¹ The new council has now made plans to get Beeckestijn sold before July 2007 to be able to get the budget in check with the financial wishes of the province, under who’s supervision the council operates (in a sort of ‘Chapter 11′ situation). But: surprisingly good returns on several ground speculation projectes suddenly yielded around €7 million towards the council’s treasury in the last months. Meanwhile, the opposition (i.e. the former counsil) starts questioning these returns. ² Continue Reading »

1. Council meeting March 2, 2006, Mr. Westerman: “Voorzitter, GroenLinks is, in tegenstelling tot Velsen Lokaal, er niet van overtuigd dat er zorgvuldig gewerkt is. Wij hebben dit vanaf juni jl. regelmatig herhaald. Ik blijf hierbij en het is gisteravond wederom geïllustreerd omdat de wethouder ineens, ter plaatse, bij het staatje nulletjes in plusjes begon om te zetten. Dit had tot gevolg dat bieders die dit hebben gehoord, vandaag raadsleden benaderden en vroegen ‘Waarom is dit bij die bieder wel gebeurd, maar bij ons niet?’. Het betekent, wethouder, dat u hiermee de kans op een juridisch probleem oploopt. Over zorgvuldigheid gesproken!” [back]
2. Council meeting November 8, 2006, remark from Mr. Vosse [opposition]: “In de tweede tussentijdse rapportage, die verscheen na de aanbieding van de begroting, bleek dat uit de afronding van een aantal grondexploitaties ineens een bate van zeven miljoen boven water kwam. De LGV vraagt zich dan af waar de specificatie van dit enorme bedrag blijft. Om welke grondposities en projecten gaat het eigelijk. En was – en dat is helemaal een merkwaardige zaak - van de gerealiseerde deelprojecten in voorgaande jaren niets bekend? Of is er – om welke reden dan ook - een geheime spaarpot aangelegd voor het nieuwe College?“ An explanation in the same minutes delivered by Mr. Ockeloen. [back]