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  Jan van der Groen, hovenier van de Prins van Oranje. Nieuwe archiefgegevens over zijn leven

  Jan van der Groen, noted for his 1669 gardener’s handbook Den Nederlandtsen Hovenier, was a Hague florist and gardener to the Prince of Orange. His father Warnart was a broom maker with a sideline growing flowers, bulbs and unusual plants, which he also supplied to the stadholder’s gardens. Jan grew up in The Hague and married into a family of stadholder gardeners. In the clientelistic culture of the seventeenth century he, like the other gardeners to the prince, owed his appointment as head gardener of the gardens ‘op de Cingel’ in 1662 to his and his wife’s families’ service to the court. The modest gardens ‘op de Cingel’ were located next to the Binnenhof in The Hague, on the site of Prince Maurits’s former Buitenhoftuin. Van der Groen was tasked with managing these gardens and laying them out with parterres and a planting of fruit and citrus trees, to a design by the architect Pieter Post. It was in his gardener’s dwelling on the Singel, that Van der Groen wrote his famous reference work. Following its publication, Van der Groen was transferred in 1670 to the large and prestigious gardens of Huis Honselaarsdijk, where his task was largely supervisory. His stay there was brief, for in 1671 he was appointed, for unspecified reasons, head gardener of Huis ter Nieuburg near Rijswijk. He died here, in his gardener’s dwelling, on 21 November 1671.

  Jan van der Groen was something of an odd man out among the gardeners. Having started out as a florist, he would seem to have had no experience in garden management when he was appointed head gardener. Most other gardeners had worked in the job from an early age, thereby building a wider range of horticultural skills and knowledge. It is also probable that he had little or no knowledge of geometry at a time when gardeners were increasingly being required to lay out classical gardens. On the other hand, in addition to his considerable knowledge of flowers and plants, Van der Groen was acquainted with prevailing views on ‘outdoor life’; he was familiar with the foremost gardens in France and the Dutch Republic, either from illustrations or possibly even from personal experience. In this he probably differed from other gardeners. Van der Groen did not make any garden designs. His social position was comparable to that of other gardeners: they belonged to the petit bourgeoisie, a social middle class with a modicum of property, which fell between the small, wealthy upper class and the vast mass of poor people. Nor was there any difference in terms of the subordinate position within the stadholder household and the garden management organization. All gardeners were required to render detailed accounts to the Nassause Domeinraad, the body responsible for managing the Prince of Orange’s domains. Ultimately, it was the publication of his book that set Van der Groen apart from his peers. No other court gardener ever penned such a work.

  Jan van der Groen, noted for his 1669 gardener’s handbook Den Nederlandtsen Hovenier, was a Hague florist and gardener to the Prince of Orange. His father Warnart was a broom maker with a sideline growing flowers, bulbs and unusual plants, which he also supplied to the stadholder’s gardens. Jan grew up in The Hague and married into a family of stadholder gardeners. In the clientelistic culture of the seventeenth century he, like the other gardeners to the prince, owed his appointment as head gardener of the gardens ‘op de Cingel’ in 1662 to his and his wife’s families’ service to the court. The modest gardens ‘op de Cingel’ were located next to the Binnenhof in The Hague, on the site of Prince Maurits’s former Buitenhoftuin. Van der Groen was tasked with managing these gardens and laying them out with parterres and a planting of fruit and citrus trees, to a design by the architect...

  Jan van der Groen, noted for his 1669 gardener’s handbook Den Nederlandtsen Hovenier, was a Hague florist and gardener to the Prince of Orange. His father Warnart was a broom maker with a sideline growing flowers, bulbs and unusual plants, which he also supplied to...

  Lenneke Berkhout

  67-77

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  'Een ploertendoder in een dierbaar en schoon gelaat'. Piet Zanstra's nieuwe raadzaal voor Den Haag

  In the 1960s and ’70s, the modernist architect Piet Zanstra was at the helm of one of the biggest and most productive architectural firms in the Netherlands. Although he and his firm were responsible for thousands of dwellings and apartments in new residential developments, the Maupoleum (1971) is his best-known design. This office colossus, located on the outskirts of Amsterdam’s city centre, was regularly dubbed the ugliest building in the city and even in the Netherlands. Inevitably, its reception coloured the portrayal of Zanstra in the literature, namely that he was unwilling to adapt his designs to the scale of the historical city and that he had little time for historical architecture.

  The new council chamber in The Hague (1972), one of Zanstra’s other, less well-known projects, appears to confirm this imputed attitude. Here he designed a modern annexe that in style and form, like the Maupoleum, was poorly integrated into the historical and small-scale urban surroundings. And again like the Maupoleum, this building was decried by local residents. There has been no previous research into the history of the council chamber design, even though it is a much better project by which to assess Zanstra’s attitude to the historical, small-scale city centre.

  My research has shown that the project had a long gestation, and that Zanstra was only involved in the plans for the new building at a later stage. It also transpires that the design was heavily influenced by radical modifications planned for the immediate area, which never came to fruition. And so the council chamber was never given the setting that would have shown it to best advantage. In addition, there seems to be little evidence to support the belief that Zanstra lacked empathy for the historical city and its architecture. On the contrary, he seems to have been very supportive of the restoration of the old town hall, and hoped to inject new vigour into the old and run-down city centre.

  When, two decades later, the city council moved into a new city hall on Spui, there appeared to be little enthusiasm for preserving Zaanstra’s council chamber. Like the Maupoleum, the council chamber did not get the context for which it was designed and, 25 years after completion, it was demolished.

  In the 1960s and ’70s, the modernist architect Piet Zanstra was at the helm of one of the biggest and most productive architectural firms in the Netherlands. Although he and his firm were responsible for thousands of dwellings and apartments in new residential developments, the Maupoleum (1971) is his best-known design. This office colossus, located on the outskirts of Amsterdam’s city centre, was regularly dubbed the ugliest building in the city and even in the Netherlands. Inevitably, its reception coloured the portrayal of Zanstra in the literature, namely that he was unwilling to adapt his designs to the scale of the historical city and that he had little time for historical architecture.

  The new council chamber in The Hague (1972), one of Zanstra’s other, less well-known projects, appears to confirm this imputed attitude. Here he designed a modern annexe that in style and form, like the...

  In the 1960s and ’70s, the modernist architect Piet Zanstra was at the helm of one of the biggest and most productive architectural firms in the Netherlands. Although he and his firm were responsible for thousands of dwellings and apartments in new residential...

  Jeroen van den Biggelaar

  78-94

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