Van Balckeneynde House > More History 

Geschiedenis

In 1639, Claes Dircx van Balckeneynde (had his house built) here at the Nieue Biercade (now called Dunne Bierkade), designed by Pieter Post.

Van Balckeneynde occupied the duty of Town Carpenter (director of municipal works). He gathered many talented people around him. He succeeded in employing the best architects, stone masons and wood workers of our Golden Century in order to construct the palaces of the family of Orange and many other prestigious buildings in and around Die Haghe (The Hague).

The Nieue Biercade (now called Dunne Bierkade) used to be the border of the small village of Die Haghe (The Hague) for many centuries. On the other side the meadows could be seen which yielded a sumptuous view. The reason that van Balckeneynde moved from the Plein to the Nieue Bierkade was due to the accessibility by ship, the main mode of transportation in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

There it happened that Piet Heyn in 1628 arrived at the Biercade, after the conquest of the Silver Fleet (Spanish treasure fleet), where he was welcomed by the States-General.
The canals served for Van Balckeneynde to supply him with materials for his many building activities, for others but also for his own venue: oak from Bohemia, brimstone for the façade and Ijssel-bricks for the back wall. Materials for other construction works were temporarily stored in the city timber yard, located behind the house.

Characteristic for the architect Pieter Post, who designed this house during the Dutch Golden Age, was the classical harmony and symmetry. Above all, he disliked wooden girders in sight: ceilings should by all means be cladded with woodwork as to conceal their framework.
Due to the minimalistic occupancy in later years, the monument on Dunne Bierkade 18 was barely altered and remained in its original state. It breathes the charm from the first half of the seventeenth century, with all the clearness and self-consciousness of the human scale.

Ever since the last occupant, the publisher J. H. C. Voorhoeve, passed away, nothing of the interior has been changed. Due to this, a unique images of the times emerged.
Currently the monument houses the main office of the Fundatie Voorhoeve.