Huis Voorstonden

House Voorstonden was built in 1550 on the foundations of a 14th-century predecessor, possibly for the noble Van Wisch family. In the 17th century it was owned by Anna van Wisch and her husband Alexander Schimmelpenninck van der Oye. When the loan was made in 1656, Voorstonden was described as ‘the house and the manor house taken by Voorstonde or den Poll in its graves, bongaerden, streets and the hollows with the lands belonging to it’. At the end of the 18th century, a grand canal and a more scenic pond were created at the rear of the house. In 1820, owner Alexander Diederik Baron van Spaen (1779-1834) had the house extensively modernized. The L-shaped house was expanded into a rectangle with a pediment on the center wing. Around the same time, the park and garden were redesigned in landscape style by JD Zocher Sr., with a large part of the water features being dug up. The house was given its current neoclassical appearance and block-shaped building mass in the years 1871-1872 (commissioned by Mr. JAG Baron de Vos van Steenwijk). In 1876 a redwood tree was planted. With a circumference of approximately 8 meters, it is now the thickest redwood tree in the Netherlands. Between 1909 and 1921, the De Vos van Steenwijk family engaged the landscape architect LA Springer, who designed a geometric garden directly at the house. Since 1977, the core of the estate with a moated house, garden, orangery and coach house has been owned by the Van Hoogenberk family. The remainder is owned by Natuurmonumenten. The park forest was restored in 2012, during which the ponds were cleaned up, paths were refurbished and the billet arch bridge was remade and installed, trees were planted, pond intakes were restored, stinzenbulbs and plants were planted.