Kasteel Heemstede: A Dutch Classicist Country Estate in Houten
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Netherlands
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Dutch
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Kasteel Heemstede is a seventeenth-century country estate in Houten, Netherlands, built in 1645 in the Dutch Classicist style. Its symmetrical design and formal grounds expressed residential comfort and prestige rather than military defence, reflecting the reduced defensive role of castles during the period. The house replaced an earlier knightly manor located about 500 metres farther south, near the settlement of Heemstede.
Foundation as a country estate
Hendrick de Pieck van Wolfsweerd commissioned the new house, and Maria van Winssen, Lady of Heemstede and a member of the Van Winssen family, became its first resident. Although the name castle was retained, the building was planned primarily as a luxurious residence. This type of country estate, known in Dutch as a buitenplaats, combined a substantial rural house with gardens, parkland, and avenues.
Expansion under Diederik van Veldhuyzen
In 1680, Diederik, also known as Theodorus, van Veldhuyzen ordered changes to the gardens. He was an official and alderman of Utrecht and a member of the States of Utrecht, the provincial governing body representing Utrecht within the Dutch Republic. Between 1685 and 1690, he acquired additional land around the house, forming an estate approximately 300 metres wide and 2,000 metres long.
Heemstede developed into a major pleasure ground and became one of the most visited country estates in Utrecht. Its gardens drew international attention through engravings by Daniël Stoopendaal and Isaac de Moucheron, including a bird’s-eye view that presented the estate as an idealized landscape. Nicolaes Berchem, a Dutch painter known for landscapes and decorative scenes, supplied paintings for the halls.
Decline and changing ownership
Between 1716 and 1723, the estate changed owners several times, which harmed its preservation. The gardens were cleared, and the paintings may have been sold. A new owner restored the gardens in 1723, but their condition declined again around 1800. Most trees were felled, the formal layout deteriorated, and sculptures and lead from the fountains were sold.
The estate was acquired by a member of the Van Utenhove family in 1781. His son, Jacob Maurits Carel van Utenhove van Heemstede, became the owner in 1785. After his death in 1836, ownership passed to his widow, Justine Jeannette Gertrude Rutgers van Rozenburg, Lady of Heemstede. She sold the estate in 1837 to a member of the Van den Berch van Heemstede family, which retained it until 1919.
Documents, restoration, and fire
In 1910, a trunk containing documents belonging to the Dutch West India Company and Dutch East India Company was found in the attic after remaining there for years. These chartered trading companies conducted overseas commerce and colonial activities for the Dutch Republic. One document contained the founding charter of New York, and the collection contributed to understanding the city’s origins. Dean Borlée, a major document collector, was then involved with the castle’s law faculty.
L. J. Heijmeijer acquired the house in 1919 and restored it. On 10 January 1987, however, Kasteel Heemstede burned almost completely. Straw in the ceilings and linen cloths on the walls made the building highly combustible. After several hours the fire was no longer fought, and a crane pushed down the roof tower. Frost combined with the firefighting water, turning the damaged building into an ice-covered ruin. The official cause of the fire was never established.
The surviving structure then suffered years of serious neglect. A thorough restoration began in 1999 on behalf of WCN, later Phanos, with the cooperation of the National Restoration Fund, and was completed in 2002. The restored house was occupied by Phanos until the company’s bankruptcy in 2012. A real-estate entrepreneur from Zeist became its owner in 2016, and since 2017 most of the building has been leased to the European Foundation for Business Qualification, which established a society there for managing directors of affiliated companies.
A restaurant has operated in the basement since the rebuilding. Restaurant Kasteel Heemstede held a Michelin star from 2003 to 2019 under chef André van Doorn. Chef Ollie Schuiling took over in 2020 and obtained a Michelin star in 2021. A Michelin star is a distinction awarded by the Michelin Guide for a high standard of cooking. Kasteel Heemstede is protected as a Dutch national monument, or Rijksmonument, under monument number 454995.
Remains
The house and its setting
The surviving house is a symmetrical Dutch Classicist building with an angular tower partly incorporated at each corner. A broad moat surrounds it. Its decorative forms, domestic planning, and residential comfort distinguish the building from a fortified castle. The house was renovated in the late seventeenth century with sliding windows, which were described as a novelty at the time.
The 1987 fire almost completely destroyed the building. The roof tower was demolished during the emergency response, and the remaining structure was later exposed to severe neglect. The restoration of 1999 to 2002 rebuilt the walls and roofs in a historical appearance. The complex now includes offices and a restaurant in the basement, while parts of the former moat and some surrounding vegetation and trees remain.
Former gardens and avenues
The estate formerly extended across a park approximately 300 metres wide and 2,000 metres long. Formal avenues, clipped hedges, ornamental plants, fountains, and aviaries for rare birds organized the grounds. Elegant walking avenues and elaborate ornamental fountains formed part of the garden design. Sculptures, fountain mechanisms, and leadwork were later removed or sold, while the felling of most trees and the destruction of the Baroque layout transformed the grounds during the estate’s decline.
A carriage approach ran along each side of the house. The northeastern avenue extended for 1,800 metres and remains largely recognizable, although the A27 motorway now intersects it. Engravings by Daniël Stoopendaal and Isaac de Moucheron preserve views of the gardens and their arrangement, including a bird’s-eye representation. Paintings by Nicolaes Berchem once decorated the halls of the house.
