Prince Frederik's Style

Do you like it when your interior design forms a cohesive whole? Prince Frederik of the Netherlands used to do this on a grand scale. Bridges, staff quarters, retaining walls, farms, his own country estates: many architectural elements across his nine estates in Wassenaar were given the same look. It was beautiful, and everyone could tell at a glance that they were on Prince Frederik’s property.

De Paauw was the first country estate in Wassenaar that Prince Frederik purchased. He made this purchase in the spring of 1838 and was very eager to get to know his new home and park outside the city. In August, he celebrated his father’s birthday—King William I—there. That might not sound surprising, but it actually was, because the previous owner’s furnishings were still there! This furniture wasn’t put up for sale until December of that year; so all that time, the prince lived surrounded by someone else’s belongings.  

Drive for Expansion

After De Paauw, Prince Frederik went on to purchase eight more country estates in succession through 1854: Raaphorst, Ter Horst, Eikenhorst, Backershagen, and Groot Haesebroek, including Drie Papegaaien, Wildrust, and Het Zwarte Hek. His estate thus stretched from the Veurseweg in Voorschoten to the dunes and covered no less than 886 hectares. The prince wanted to enhance the diversity of the buildings and natural beauty and merge them into a single cohesive whole. To that end, many buildings dating from different periods were modernized in a single style.

Court Architect Wentzel

For the architectural elements, Prince Frederik brought the German architect Hermann Wentzel to the Netherlands in 1851. The prince knew him from the Prussian court in Berlin, where he himself had grown up. Wentzel served as his court architect for twenty years. He began by expanding and embellishing De Paauw into a Prussian palace. His final project was the renovation of Ter Horst. He created a sense of unity by adapting existing elements and building new bridges and staff quarters, all in the same style. 

The chalet style

Wentzel adopted the chalet style, a romantic architectural style that was very popular in the nineteenth century. At that time, people were particularly charmed by the “unspoiled” chalets in the mountainous regions of Switzerland, for example. The style was characterized by overhanging roofs and elaborately decorated wood carvings on roof cornices and facades. The decorations featured a pattern of openings, much like lace. This is also known as ajour or lacework. He often combined the chalet style with other architectural styles to create an eclectic whole.

The retaining wall

When Prince Frederik purchased the Backershagen estate, there was already a beautiful tea pavilion standing on a high, artificially constructed hill. It was located along the route the carriage took when the Prince of Eikenhorst traveled from Backershagen to De Paauw. But the hill was in danger of subsiding. For this reason, he had Hermann Wentzel build a retaining wall. The wall was elegantly finished with a brick railing featuring openwork.

Feel free to take a walk to the retaining wall: there, you can admire this beautiful tracery up close. And you’ll have a view of another unique structure: the “hertimage,” a hermit’s cave situated on a peninsula. Such “follies” were part of a landscaped park design, where walkers were constantly surprised by intriguing elements. The tea pavilion is now a private residence.

The Shooting Range

Prince Frederik was passionate about hunting and had a magnificent shooting lodge at De Horsten. It is a picturesque, octagonal building, with a pheasant proudly adorning its thatched roof. Attached to the building was a glass gallery. One hundred meters away stood a track along which a fake hare or pheasant would glide. From the hunting lodge, Prince Frederik and his guests could shoot at the moving target for practice and entertainment. Today, the hunting lodge serves as a tea pavilion: while enjoying a drink, you can admire its rich history. The hunting trophies and deer antlers are still on display on the walls.

Ter Horst

As mentioned, Prince Frederik was an avid hunter and therefore had the dilapidated Huis ter Horst converted into a small hunting lodge in the Neo-Gothic style. Architect P.F.W. Mouton was commissioned for this project. After an exhausting hunting expedition, the prince and his party would settle in here to recover from their exertions and enjoy a hearty meal. The facade features a stepped gable slightly off-center and decorative elements above the doors and windows. Incidentally, he was not able to enjoy it for long; the house was completed in 1876, and Prince Frederik died in 1881.

All around the hunting grounds stood two-meter-high pillars bearing the inscription: “Private hunting grounds of His Royal Highness Prince Frederik.” It couldn’t be any clearer!

See for yourself!

The Park Route features many architectural elements, each one a gem in its own right. The examples above are therefore just the tip of the iceberg. Get out there and admire the bridges, staff housing, boundary markers, country estates, and much more—all for yourself!