The story of Wassenaar

Backershagen has a long, rich history. The estate originated from four farms, which lay side by side between Rijksstraatweg and Zijlwatering. The written sources of the most northern and oldest farmhouse date back to 1359. This farm was demolished at the end of the seventeenth century. South of this was a presumably sixteenth-century farm, which was purchased in 1681 by the Amsterdam physician Joannes van Wassenaar (1637-1681). He died the same year. His widow, Elisabeth van Moor (1637-1723) used the farm's men's room as a country retreat. A clue to this would be that north of it was a fishing pond and there was a large orchard. This made it more than an ordinary farmhouse. As a tenant farmer, besides enjoying the healthy outdoors, Elisabeth could also enjoy the fresh produce her farm produced. This laid the foundation for the country estate that would develop here.

Mr. Cornelis Backer

After her death in 1723, her estate goes to three grandchildren. One of them, Maria Clara van Hagen (1703-1765), marries the Amsterdam regent Mr. Cornelis Backer (1693-1775) in the same year. By buying out both brothers-in-law and purchasing the land in 1728, which borders De Paauw, Backer is able to construct a spacious formal park with a geometric structure. It would include the aforementioned fish ponds. A tree-lined driveway to the Rijksstraatweg was also constructed. The entrance is marked by the still existing wrought-iron entrance gate with the name Backershagen; an amalgamation of both their surnames: Backer-Hagen. In front of the farm they place a shallow front house, giving the farm more the allure of a country house. 

Interest in vegetable gardens and birds

Much of the couple's interest is in gardening. This is evidenced by, among other things, the large vegetable gardens with greenhouses on either side of the house. Here Backer engaged in growing pineapples and peaches. This fits within the then growing interest in exotic crops. Also noteworthy is the presence of a very large aviary next to the house. In addition to diverse species of native birds, exotic birds are kept. There is even in addition to several gardeners, a "phasantier," or zookeeper employed. Uniquely, some parts of the park layout are still recognizable after almost 300 years. Think of the water basin with an elevation on which two very old, pollarded lime trees stand, as well as the structure of the kitchen gardens and, of course, the entrance gate. 

After the death of their parents, the two Backer children, Willem Jan (1744-1780) and Clara Elisabeth (1746-1818) purchased the two southern farms in 1772. One was called the Capoenswoning, after Jacob Capoensz, who had owned it since 1403. Around 1610, this farm burned down and the Hague lawyer, Reynier van Persijn, added the land to his land holdings. Indeed, at that time he already owned the fourth and southernmost farm, which was quite appropriately called Persijnswoning.

Park in early landscape style

The two bachelor children inherited their parents' interest in gardening and the outdoors. In 1772, they add 19 acres of land to Backershagen to develop their own park according to the early landscape style fashion of the time. It becomes a park full of surprises with an intricate winding path pattern and forest streams, as well as open meadows and a deer camp. Again, it is unique that these centuries-old structures, as well as some built components, including the tea dome, hermitage grotto and deer house, have been preserved. Once more in 1798, Clara purchases land north of the estate, so that the land extends to the Schouwweg. With her death in 1818, this branch of the Backer family died out and the estate was auctioned off. 

A next phase in the development of Backershagen takes place when Mr. Jan de la Bassecour Caan (1786-1842) is the owner. He has the house rebuilt and lays out a front park in landscape style after the design of J.P. Zocher jr. There will be wide lines of sight towards the road and both water parties on the north side of the house will be drained into one.

Prince Frederick of the Netherlands

From 1846, Backershagen is part of an enormous estate that Prince Frederick of the Netherlands manages to acquire in Voorschoten and Wassenaar. It becomes one with De Paauw, Raaphorst, Eikenhorst, Ter Horst and Groot Haesebroek. The prince commissions the German landscape architect Eduard Petzold to connect the parks by roads and make some adjustments. For example, the Deer Camp is moved to the northern part of Groot Haesebroek. The structural parts are designed by the prince's court architect, Hermann Wentzel (1820-1889). These include bridges and a retaining wall near the hermitage. He remodels the deer house. It becomes a picturesque playhouse for Prince Frederick's youngest daughter, Princess Marie (1841-1910). Wentzel also gives the main house, intended primarily as a guesthouse, a more representative appearance.

Breakdown Backershagen

After Prince Frederik's death in 1881, Princess Marie inherits his possessions. With the exception of De Paauw and Backershagen, she sells her property. After her death in 1910, Backershagen falls apart into six substantial lots. In the open spaces of the old park villas are built as contemporary islands in a historical ensemble. Far to the north, between Backershagen House and De Paauw, lies Beukhaghe. The white villa from 1913 is nicknamed "The house with the blue roof.

Building of Meyland and Wiltzangk

Shortly after each other, starting in 1912, the villas Meyland and Wiltzangk were built in English country house style by the Rotterdam native Frits Weise and his family. The gardens were designed by the then leading garden architect Dirk Tersteeg. Tersteeg combined two styles: close to the villa a geometric style with a clear center axis; and around it a more landscape style. Meyland is located on the meadows at the edge of the old park zone of Backershagen. Possibly that is where the name Meyland comes from: (hay) meadows. This villa is now the residence of the ambassador of India, while Wiltzangk is for Iran; both national monuments are special coherent ensembles, but not accessible. 

House Ivicke

The same goes for the fifth villa, Huize Ivicke. This national monument is located on the other side of Rust en Vreugdlaan. The 1913 country house is a fairly faithful copy of the eighteenth-century "Eremitageslottet," a hunting lodge located north of Copenhagen. A more formal garden surrounds the house, while around it the old eighteenth-century park layout of Backershagen has been preserved. Finally, at Backershagen, the unfinished country house De Hartenkamp is recognizable. Several service houses, garden walls of the kitchen garden and two entrance gates remain. The latter stand on the side of Rijksstraatweg and on Backershagenlaan; each bearing the name De Hartenkamp.

Backershagen was inhabited in the 1910s and 1920s by Mr. Allart G.N. Swart. He moves the entrance to the Backershagenlaan, after which this part of the park is landscaped according to the design of Leonard A. Springer (1855-1940); to the south of this the Rijnlands Lyceum is built from 1937. In 1974 the country house on Backershagen burns down completely. Not until 1984 was construction started on an apartment complex, whose main form refers to the main house as it stood around 1850. A new addition are the two large apartment complexes on either side of the forecourt.

Purchase by the municipality

In 1955, the municipality of Wassenaar bought the park De Hartenkamp and parts of Beukhaghe, Backershagen and Wiltzangk. Together with parts of De Paauw, Rust en Vreugd and Wittenburg, the whole area was opened as a large walking park in 1961. The almost connected area with its high heritage and nature values is now known as the Wassenaar Estates Zone. The apartment buildings and their immediate surroundings are privately owned and not accessible. In addition to the various monumental components, the entire park of Backershagen has the status of a national monument.

Buitenplaats De Paauw originated in the seventeenth century on the territory of two older farmsteads. These farmsteads were located near the junction of Heerweg (Rijksstraatweg) and Lange Kerkdam and already existed in the first half of the sixteenth century. 

One of the farmsteads was named "thuijs te Paeu" as the property of the Delft regent Mr. Cornelis Arentsz. van der Dussen. There were pastures, tar land and flax was grown for making rope. 

Construction of a country house

In 1680, Johan Diederik van Hoeufft, lord of Buttinge and Zandvoort (1647-1712) became the owner. A country house was built. This mansion is the middle part of the present house. Around it, an impressive park was laid out in a geometric garden style with a driveway in the middle that led to the Heerweg. An entrance gate with large gate piers marked the entrance. The rectangular nursery next to the house and the linden lane in the rear park date from this period. At that time it was, together with Duinrell, the largest country estate in Wassenaar. 

In the period between 1770 and 1816, Adriaan Pieter Twent (1745-1816) owned the buitenplaats. He was a politician and administrator with a keen interest in agriculture and nature. Presumably according to his own insights, he had a park gradually laid out in the early landscape style with a meandering water feature in the rear park. Some trees, now almost 250 years old, including a beech with a circumference of about seven meters along the water and the sycamore and lime trees near the house, date from this period. 

Lilac Mountain

In 1783, Twent, bought Raaphorst. This is located opposite De Paauw. Twent created an overbos in this dune area where sheep were kept and a coniferous forest and a pond were created. Twent had a large hill raised with a viewing dome on top, which offers fine views of the result of his work. This is now known as the Lilac Mountain. 

Prince Frederick of the Netherlands

In 1838, Prince Frederik of the Netherlands bought Huize De Paauw as a country residence for his family. It would become the nucleus of our country's most extensive estate that stretched from the Veurseweg in Voorschoten to the dunes near the coast. 

First, to the design of Jan David Zocher jr, two wooden rectangular additions with semicircular bay windows and a platform with a veranda were built against the existing house. Also at the rear came a semi-circular extension, from which one has a fine view over the water feature. The prince commissioned the same Zocher jr. to draw up a plan for creating sightlines and walkways at de Paauw. This was also done at country estates Raaphorst and Ter Horst. This created a large coherent walking park, also used for hunting. 

Prince Frederick Parks Route

Prince Frederik liked to stay at De Paauw with his family a lot. He received family and guests who he let enjoy the parks and estates on his vast estate. In 1854 the prince was the last to buy Groot Haesebroek. The German garden architect Eduard Petzold made an overall plan to connect the independent estates by roads. This made it possible to take different routes by carriage across the vast estates. This combination of roads is now known as Prince Frederick's Parks Route. The unity was strengthened by the fact that the prince's court architect, Hermann Wentel, had the various service buildings and bridges constructed in one and the same style.

The Princess Garden

No expense was spared. For example, Wenztel designed, The Princess Garden next to Huize De Paauw. This was a garden room enclosed by a pergola where arbors with garden benches stood to enjoy the wealth of plants and flowers. 

On the other side of the park was one of the estate's many kitchen gardens. Here stood a wide variety of tree species and plants. 

The main house was expanded to include a guest wing and large hall for holding parties and celebrations. The decorative parts, inspired by classical antiquity, came from Berlin. This is where Prince Frederick and his wife, Princess Louise, grew up. It gives the house its current appearance, with five peacocks adorning the facade as the icing on the cake.

Lions

In the forecourt, two gargoyle lions at a basin still watch over the estate. The couple received the gift on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary in 1850 from her sister and brother-in-law, Tsarina Alexandra and Tsar Nicholas I. 

Until the end of his life, Prince Frederick worked with Petzold to beautify his parks. The aim was to create a strong optical spatial effect to make the park appear larger than it really was. This was achieved, among other things, by creating lines of sight and a flowing course of wooded areas and water features. Living paintings were created through the use of a wide variety of deciduous, coniferous trees and shrubs with different color shades and shapes. These in turn provided contrast between horizontal and vertical lines and lead to a strong effect of depth.

Breakdown of De Paauw

In 1910 Princess Marie von Wied, Prince Frederik's daughter, died. After this, the De Paauw property largely fell apart. Part of it was parceled out for villa construction. The main house and coach house with part of the park came into the hands of the municipality. Since 1924 the house has been in use as a town hall and the park is publicly accessible as a walking park. 

As best he could, the garden architect Hein Otto restored the war damage to the park in the 1950s. 

Current recovery

Since 2016, work has resumed on the restoration of the park which, as a special cultural park, now has national monument status. The most far-reaching is the restoration of the exterior of the house between 2018 and 2022 to give it back its nineteenth-century appearance.  

The Rust en Vreugd estate lies partly on a beach ridge with coastal dunes and partly on an enclosed beach plain. 

Around 1754, the burned farmhouse was bought Hague notary Johannes Bourcourd. He also owned the nearby Blankenburgh country estate. Bourcourd had the farm rebuilt.

His son Gabriel (1726-1781) inherited the property in 1760 and bought Blankenburgh. He renamed the rebuilt farmhouse a country retreat called "Rest and Joy. The name was symbolic of what with expected of country life. The estate then stretched between the Rijksstraatweg and the Schouwweg. 

Park in early landscape style

Between 1761 and 1774, a park was created in the early landscape style. The non-level dune landscape was well suited for the construction of small winding paths with a delicate pattern. With the sand released from digging, a mound was created that was later planted with pines. One of the building plots formed a long line of sight that is still present for the most part, as is the meandering 'English' stream near the Zijlwatering. 

Van Ommeren Avenue was planted with avenue trees and closed as a thoroughfare in 1818. This rare preserved park structure more than two centuries old was most decisive for the further development of the park. This eighteenth-century layout formed the most important core quality of the park. Other valuable elements from this period include the rectangular layout of the orchard with a kitchen garden and the forest plots planted on either side of the manor house.  

Neoclassical style

One of the next owners became Eduard van der Oudermeulen (1801-1853). Shortly after he became the owner of Rust en Vreugd, he had a new country house with cow house built in 1848 in neoclassical style. The park layout was further developed with new winding paths, partly with avenue trees in a forest with predominantly coppice. 

There are three forest areas whose names refer to their character:

• The Dune
• Greater Esschen Forest
• Great Oak Forest

Two new sight lines were created from the house. One diagonally across farmland toward the Rijksstraatweg with its distinctive spoon shape, called 'Het Gezicht'. The other runs across farmland in a northwesterly direction to a no longer existing dove tower in 'Kluitweide'. The construction of a larger water feature, 'The New Water' gave room for a nice view of the pastures.
Purchases were also made on the opposite side of the Rijksstraatweg, along which a teahouse was built. A courtyard was created, consisting of garden and farmland with a landscape-style park called "The New Work. Closer to home, flower and rose beds were created, while the kitchen garden was expanded with a menagerie and greenhouses. 

Continued estate management

After 1853, his widow Alida van Wickevoort Crommelin (1806-1883), their son Cornelis Jan van der Oudermeulen (1838-1904) and grandson Eduard (1867-1937) continued the estate management. The size and quality of the park and utility gardens conferred great status on the Van der Oudermeulen family (1838-1904). The management and production employed many gardeners who won many prizes with the exceptional crops. 

Construction of Oud Wassenaar castle

Cornelis Jan buys the adjacent lands of Oud Wassenaar and the Wittenburg. Based on a design by C.E.A. Petzold, the southern part of the park was given a new, more scenic layout that included an axis of vision towards the Laan van Hoogwolde and a more meandering water feature. On the banks of this, Cornelis Jan had Oud Wassenaar Castle built in 1876-1879.

Van Ommeren

In 1904, the family ownership fell apart and Rust en Vreugd came into the hands of the Rotterdam shipowner Philippus van Ommeren (1861-1945) and his wife Alida de Voogt. They gained particular fame for their charity. At Rust en Vreugd they offered ladies, working for Tesselschade, vacation accommodation in their converted and modernized country house. 

The Van Ommerens also cared about the fate of fellow stanchions who lost their assets through no fault of their own. In 1926, they founded the Wilhelmina Alida Foundation (WAS). A few years later they built the WAVO park along the Schouwweg. A kind of court in the shape of a crescent moon. 

Johanna House

In 1931, the Johanna House was built. An apartment complex cum care facility for elderly single ladies of good standing and with limited financial means. Since 2005, this function has been housed as a care home in the new apartment complex along Menken Avenue. 

For themselves, the Van Ommeren-de Voogt couple built a villa. The architecture was somewhat inspired by what they saw during their trip to Egypt. In front of the house came a new pond. Philip van Ommeren died in 1945, ten years after his wife. Both were buried (in the private cemetery (Rust in Vrede) on the estate, at the foot of the pine hill. The old country house Rust en Vreugd served as a boarding school and retirement home after the war. It was demolished in 1987 and in its place now stands a modern apartment complex with the same contours.

National Monument

Because of the special park layout, the entire estate with its distinctive buildings has the status of a national monument. The Rust en Vreugd Foundation and associated foundations own and manage the estate, as well as the social estate of Mr. and Mrs. Van Ommeren. Starting in 2019, a comprehensive restoration plan will be worked on in cooperation with the municipality. The centuries-old park with its intimate footpaths and varied meadow and woodland areas will thus remain experienceable.  

The history of this country estate dates back to the mid-16th century when the Colff family had a farm here, the Colffmakers house. 

With the arrival of the next owner, Delft brewer Jan Pietersz. Hoefijzer, the name change to Hoefijzer followed. His grandson, Pieter Maartensz bought the extra land Landsscheidingsweg between the Rijksstraatweg and the Zijlwetering to establish a buitenplaats around 1635, including ornamental gardens and a moat around the main house. This was called "Huis te Hoefijzer. Even when owned by the Van Santen family between 1651 and 1745, the estate retained its formal gardens and tenant farms belonged to the estate. 

When Hendrik van Leeuwen (1854-1823) became the owner, the property was called "Groot Hoefijzer," to distinguish it from the farm on the Laan van Koot, which was called "Klein Hoefijzer. A few years after the Heerweg (now: Rijksstraatweg) became a paved road, Van Leeuwen had a new entrance gate built in 1810 with a teahouse next to it. Nearby, a gardener's house with vegetable gardens also arose. This allowed the public use of one of the old through lordly roads across the estate to lapse, but it still exists as an internal road. It formed the entrance to the estate on the side of Zijdeweg. The house was then located at the level of Bloemcamplaan. 

Cornelius Schiffer van Bleyswijk (1793-1873) had owned it since 1848 and had an extensive art collection. When the house was renovated, the facades were plastered white and crenellated, giving it a medieval castle-like appearance. Possibly at that time it was aptly named "Witten Burg. A landscaping in a more romantic landscape style was part of it. The long water feature was given a winding course and ended in front of the house with an island in the middle. The wild dune grounds were excavated and at the end of the internal Heerweg a hill was raised with a watchtower in neo-Gothic style. 

Around 1875, Cornelis Jan van der Oudermeulen (1838-1904) became the owner of the 'Witten Burg' and merged it with Oud Wassenaer and Rust en Vreugd. After he had the current Oud Wassenaar Castle built in 1876, the 'Witte Burg' came into the hands of jonkheer Helenus Marinus Speelman (1857-1909) in 1897. By then, the main house had been demolished. More centrally in the woods, along the meandering water feature, he had a new main house built to a design by J.J. van Nieukerken, He had previously remodeled town houses for Speelman and his wife, Sophie Adrienne Baroness Sloet van Oldruitenborgh (1860-1941). 

Together with his sons Marie (1879-1963) and Johan (1885-1962), Van Nieukerken designed a castle-like country house in the so-called Dutch Neo-Renaissance style. This was recognizable by its artisanal, historicizing manner of construction. The rooms were each furnished in a different style with interior parts partly from elsewhere. Because of this medieval-looking appearance, the manor has since been called "Kasteel De Wittenburg. 

The coach house is a copy of one that stands at Zuylenstein Castle, a country estate near Utrecht where the Speelman family lived for some time. The Speelman couple was closely involved in the building process. It happened several times that construction was stopped because the building plans had to be adjusted and work had to be done differently.

The prominent garden architect Henri Copijn (1842-1923) designed a garden in the New Architectural Garden style on the forecourt of the house and immediate surroundings as a transition to the landscaped area beyond. Of this mixed garden style, the two open meadows and the circular walks on the east side of the park remain. Also preserved is the ice cellar at the base of the hill, which is now a wintering place for bats. 

During World War II, the Germans took the castle. After war damage was repaired, Kasteel de Wittenburg opened its doors to guests in late 1963. Since then it has been in use as a hotel-restaurant. The monumental historic building has hardly changed over the years. The entire country estate, both the buildings and the park have national monument status. Most of the park is publicly accessible.