Michael Jackson’s Neverland and Loosdrecht’s Eikenrode would never have been linked on this blog if it weren’t for the fact that they have been sharing similar fates during the last few months. Both estates were put up to auction by their respective banks in recent months, and both estates were able to avoid that public sale at the last minute. The difference is that where one is world news -the possible auction of Neverland even received coverage by Dutch local regional press, news on the fate of Eikenrode never gained attention outside of the realm of the regional press -and this blog, ofcourse.
The main house of Eikenrode after the restoration. Both photo’s by GVB Architecten, 2003.
Eikenrode was to be publically sold last week, but a few days before the auction the owners, the municipality and the banks reached an agreement on how to go forward. The province of Noord-Holland brought all parties together to reach this solution, according to their press release on the matter. It seems there are no new agreements made between parties, nor is the process of transferring the grounds from the municipality to the current owner of the house completed. The bank, who threatened to sell the estate because it took the other parties ages to complete this transfer, must have been assured by all parties they would not lose money on this deal. This means that Martien Plasmeijer can proceed with his plans to gradually restore the estate and develop new ways to make money at Eikenrode.
Eikenrode was established in 1845 for the Hacke family, who lived on the estate until 1974. The design of both the house and the gardens is attributed to architect Johan David Zocher jr, but as far as I know this attribution is based on oral history, not on documentation. 1Attribution by H.M. van der Wijck, De Nederlandse Buitenplaats. Aspecten van ontwikkeling, bescherming en herstel, 1982, p.311. This information is maintained on the TUiN database, with the addition that the attribution is based on oral history. Archiwijzer says the garden and orangerie are indeed by Zocher, but not the house. Though it resembles Zocher’s later design of the house of Molenbosch in Zeist, according to them the architect of the main house of Eikenrode is Jan Streefkerk. Much of the original layout of the garden is still visible today. 
In recent years Plasmeijer restored the main house and ice-cellar. As soon as the transfer is completed, work on restoring the coach-house annex orangerie can begin. Plasmeijer is planning appartments for elderly people who need to be cared for (zorgappartementen) in this building, which was destroyed by fire last December.
Earlier photo’s (from 2003) show that this building was in a deplorable state even before the fire. The cause of the fire has never been established (or has not been made public). A short video of the fire can be found in this earlier post.
Note:
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Attribution by H.M. van der Wijck, De Nederlandse Buitenplaats. Aspecten van ontwikkeling, bescherming en herstel, 1982, p.311. This information is maintained on the TUiN database, with the addition that the attribution is based on oral history. Archiwijzer says the garden and orangerie are indeed by Zocher, but not the house. Though it resembles Zocher’s later design of the house of Molenbosch in Zeist, according to them the architect of the main house of Eikenrode is Jan Streefkerk. |
|---|
The fire at Eikenrode in December 2007 was officially the result of an arson attack. This was made clear at the end of a televised portrait of Eikenrode.