Monuments in Noord-Holland

R. Stenvert en C. Kolman (2006)

Gepubliceerd op 30-03-2018

Beeckestein in Velsen

betekenis & definitie

(National road 136). This originally late-medieval house received its current name in 1522 after Jan van Beeckesteijn from Haarlem. Jan Trip jr. - son of the Amsterdam mayor Jan Trip - had the partly under-celled two-storey house in 1716-'21 equipped with a new facade with sculpture by Ignatius van Logteren.

The middle ressault has an attachment with clockwork in Louis XIV style and an entry frame with ionic pilasters and the alliance weapon of the Trip and Van Hoorn families. For Jacob Jansz Boreel, renovations were carried out in 1747, 1757 and 1768, where the house was enlarged with two flat-covered side wings (front) and a rear wing. The main building has an openwork clock tower. In the Second World War Beeckestein served as a military shelter and in 1959-'69 it was restored and decorated as a museum.

On both sides of the forecourt there are two white painted early 18th century buildings. An eighteenth-century serpent wall runs behind both buildings. The path system of the garden directly behind the house and the rectangular pond at the intersection (1719) belong to an early-18th-century formal establishment; the courses have an early-landscape interpretation. In line with this, a landscaping construction from 1765-72 is based on plans by Johan Georg Michael with the assistance of Johann Heinrich Müntz. The statues along the avenue in the axis of the house come from the former Spaarnberg country estate in Santpoort. Behind in the formal garden is an 18th century ice cellar (restored 1973). The garden house (P.C. Hooftlaan 93, Driehuis), built as a garden ornament, dates back to 1770 in the form of a neo-Gothic chapel. The garden wall, which was demolished around 1820 with an entrance gate and two playhouses, was reconstructed during the last restoration. The current wrought iron entrance gate comes from Vredeveld farm in Middenbeemster. There are also a number of bunkers from the Second World War in the park.