Meerwijk Park

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Park Meerwijk is a villa park in Bergen in the Dutch province of North Holland .

history

The park was created on the initiative of the Amsterdam tile dealer Arnold Heystee (1876-1941) during the difficult years of the First World War . In 1915 Heystee commissioned Jan Frederik Staal , whom he knew from Architectura et Amicitia . Staal in turn invited four colleagues, Guillaume la Croix , Piet Kramer , Cornelis Jouke Blaauw and his own assistant Margaret Kropholler , the first female architect in the Netherlands and Staal's future wife.

Heystee gave them a free hand in the construction of seventeen country houses on the specially acquired property in Bergen: seven free-standing, two double and two three-part villas. The only condition of the client was that the stock of tiles from his Amsterdam warehouses had to be used to a large extent, which seemed to be an advantage rather than an imperative given the material shortage during the First World War. Within the given budget, they enjoyed complete freedom in implementing their ideas. After the drafts had been approved by B&W van Bergen, the construction was completed in 8 months at a cost of ƒ350,000.

Most of the villas have large thatched roofs with wavy lines, wooden window frames and brick facades and represent the style that became known as the Amsterdam School from 1916 onwards . Not all critics were enthusiastic: it is almost worth looking around for the sake of it , wrote the trade journal De Bouwwereld . The architect Hendrik Wijdeveld, on the other hand, praised the park in the architecture magazine Wendingen . Remarkably, JF Staal distanced himself from the end result, as the architects had no influence on the construction of their villas.

Built by the architects:

  • Jan Frederik Staal: the villas De Ark (with garden house) and De Bark , the semi-detached houses Bilbad , Elifaz and Zofar .
  • Margaret Staal-Kropholler : the villas Meezennest , Beukenhoek and Meerlhuis.
  • Cornelis Jouke Blaauw: Meerhoek (now: De Ster ), Boschkant and Beek en Bos.
  • Guillaume la Croix: double villa VIII and IX
  • Piet Kramer: the Tamelone, Mevene and Rogier villas (not preserved), the Tyltyl garden house (now: De Hut )

Kramer's three thatched-roof villas were destroyed by fire as early as 1922, so that only the gardener's house De Hut , originally called Tyltyl , remained. Kramer's creations were named after characters from Arthur van Schendel's novel Een zwerver ran ("A vagabond in love") . In 1952, Kropholler's Villa Beukenhoek was hit by a fire and then rebuilt with major changes.

The Meerwijk Park has the status of a state-protected village landscape , while the individual buildings, including three bridges, are also protected as a Dutch Rijksmonument .

gallery

  • Landhaus De Ark (JFStaal 1918)

  • Landhaus Meerhoek (CJ Blaauw 1917–18)

  • Landhaus De Bark (JF Staal 1917–18)

  • Villa Meezennest / Meerlhuis (Margaret Staal-Kropholler 1917–18)

  • Double villa VIII (GF La Croix 1917–18)

  • Garden house De Hut (PL Kramer 1917–18)

  • Bridge on Meerweg 1 (PL Kramer 1917–18)

  • Bridge on Meerweg 3 (PL Kramer 1917–18)

literature

  • Eline van Leeuwen, Erik Mattie: Park Meerwijk, Villapark te Bergen . Manifesto van de Amsterdamse School. SUN, Nijmegen 2005, ISBN 978-90-8506-010-9 (Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Park Meerwijk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 39 '52 "  N , 4 ° 41' 52.5"  E

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jan Tromp: Park Meerwijk De Amsterdamse School in Bergen. In: jantromp.nl. Retrieved January 6, 2020 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Wendingen ~ Platform voor de Amsterdamse School. In: amsterdamse-school.nl. Retrieved January 6, 2020 (Dutch).