Havezate Oldengaerde

Originally, the estate Oldengaerde was one of the eighteen havezate estates in Drenthe, of which only 7 still exist. Oldengaerde is considered one of the most beautiful and best-preserved havezate estates. Oldengaerde is one of the five havezaten that were located in or near Dwingeloo and the former Dieverderdingspel.

Set a bit hidden in greenery just outside Dwingeloo is havezate Oldengaerde. A stately house surrounded by a moat. Masonry columns emphasize the respectable facade with the year 1717. In that year, Cornelis van Dongen Jr. had Oldengaerde renovated in accordance with the latest fashion of that time. It was the same style in which Amsterdam merchants built their houses along the canal belt. Three centuries later, this beautiful ‘canal house’ at the Westeinde in Dwingeloo illustrates the prosperity of the Drenthe nobility of yore. The area around the havezate features a small-scale, historical structure of agricultural farms interspersed with prominent houses, of which havezate Oldengaerde is literally and figuratively the center.

Oldengaerde already existed in the Middle Ages. As far as we know, one Reynolt van Echten had the first house constructed on this site shortly after the year 1400. According to building historians, it must have been a simple rectangular stone house. Life took place in one large room that served as a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and office at the same time.

The Van Echten family belonged to the oldest Drenthe nobility. While in the Middle Ages elsewhere the nobility had a firm grip on power, the knights in the administration of the Landscape of Drenthe had as much say as the farmers from the village who owned land. Every ‘eigenerfde’ farmer had a vote in the Drenthe Land Assembly. In fact, the knights were also just farmers who had to live off the produce of their land. Oldengaerde would be inhabited for 240 years by members of this family. Based on their lineage and their holdings, Nicolaas van Echten in 1598 and Johan van Echten in 1647 were admitted to the Knightly Society of Drenthe.

Set a bit hidden in greenery just outside Dwingeloo is havezate Oldengaerde. A stately house surrounded by a moat. Masonry columns emphasize the respectable facade with the year 1717. In that year, Cornelis van Dongen Jr. had Oldengaerde renovated in accordance with the latest fashion of that time. It was the same style in which Amsterdam merchants built their houses along the canal belt. Three centuries later, this beautiful ‘canal house’ at the Westeinde in Dwingeloo illustrates the prosperity of the Drenthe nobility of yore.

Oldengaerde already existed in the Middle Ages. As far as we know, one Reynolt van Echten had the first house constructed on this site shortly after the year 1400. According to building historians, it must have been a simple rectangular stone house. Life took place in one large room that served as a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and office at the same time.

The Van Echten family belonged to the oldest Drenthe nobility. While in the Middle Ages elsewhere the nobility had a firm grip on power, the knights in the administration of the Landscape of Drenthe had as much say as the farmers from the village who owned land. Every ‘eigenerfde’ farmer had a vote in the Drenthe Land Assembly. In fact, the knights were also just farmers who had to live off the produce of their land...

During the Eighty Years' War, the Drenthe land nobility seized the opportunity to behave as a separate ‘estate’. In 1603, for the first time, the knighthood received one vote in the Land Assembly against two votes of the Eigenerfden.

Who belonged to the Drenthe knighthood? It was said to be ‘those who have long been qualified for it’, but that didn’t clarify the matter much. In search of a clear criterion, the Land Assembly decided to only admit someone in possession of a ‘noble havezate’ to the knighthood. So, you were part of the knighthood if you actually lived in an old noble house.

After years of debate, an official list was only made in 1646 naming eighteen havezaten. One of them was Oldengaerde. Of the old havezaten, only six remain. The fact that there are more than eighteen havezaten in Drenthe comes from the ability to sell such ‘right of havezate’, after which the new owner could transfer that right to their own house.

In 1660, the last van Echten transferred the house Oldengaerde to son-in-law Cornelis van Dongen. The van Dongens were a wealthy family. At the death of Cornelis, his three sons were all owners of their own havezate. Cornelis van Dongen Jr. received Oldengaerde. It was this Cornelis van Dongen who had the house extensively renovated in the so-called ‘Vingboons style’, named after the Amsterdam architect Philips Vingboons. The precisely laid-out garden received a Grand Canal similar to what King Louis XIV had at his palace in Versailles. Despite all the splendor, a man like Van Dongen was also just a farmer living among the farmers. The large farmhouse next to the havezate was the center of his agricultural business where timber cultivation also played an important role.

With that, we have come to another remarkable resident of the havezate: Aalt Willem van Holthe, who became the richest man in Drenthe thanks to the timber trade. Van Holthe bought Oldengaerde in 1808 for an amount of 20 thousand guilders. Van Holthe was one of the most influential people in Drenthe at the time. He served as mayor of Dwingeloo for an impressive forty years and sat in Provincial States for thirty years. Besides Oldengaerde, Van Holthe owned the havezaten Batinge and Rheebruggen nearby. A remarkable story: he had both houses demolished when he realized that they fetched more as building materials than in rental income. For more than two centuries, Oldengaerde remained inhabited by the descendants of Aalt Willem van Holthe.

The estate Oldengaerde was transferred in 2013 by the then owners, the Willinge family, to The Drenthe Landscape with the aim of securing the estate for the future. The Drenthe Landscape subsequently made plans to restore the estate while simultaneously breathing new life into it.

The estate Oldengaerde consists of an ensemble of nationally monumental buildings, gardens, garden objects, and forest. The havezate forms the heart of the estate. The country house was already mentioned in the early 15th century. The current classical appearance was achieved around the mid-17th century. The striking entrance in rococo style dates from the mid-18th century. Oldengaerde is one of the eighteen original havezaten in Drenthe, of which only seven remain today. The house has been largely preserved, even in terms of its interior.

In 2017, the execution of a large-scale project for restoration and repurposing commenced. In the havezate, among other things, two holiday homes from Buitenleven Vakanties have been introduced. A part of the havezate has remained in use by the original owners. The coach house has been converted into a residence, and a residence has also been created in the farmhouse, alongside a canteen for volunteers, storage rooms, and a toilet for the disabled. The garden of the estate is managed by a group of garden volunteers. In the future, guided tours of the estate will also be organized. In addition to the estate's garden, parts of the havezate and the farmhouse will be accessible to participants of the tour.

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