History Should you happen to have been a merchant during the Golden Age, you would no doubt have purchased a plot of land to build a second house outside the city walls. At the time Frankendael was built more than forty manor and country houses sprung up along rivers such as the Vecht and Amstel, as well as on the recently reclaimed Meer polder. The most desirable were the manor houses, of which Frankendael was one. In these manor houses well-to-do occupants enjoyed the tranquillity and countryside, leaving daily city life behind them. Various writers and poets described them, whilst numerous painters and sketchers captured them.

Owners and occupants
Between circa 1660 and 2005 around 18 occupants/owners have turned Huize Frankendael into their private residence, country house or investment project. All have left their mark; not just their own individual mark, but one of their time too. Together they have defined the history of this house and the surrounding park.

Owners of Huize Frankendael from its advent to the present day:
1. Nicolaas Van Liebergen 1660–1693
2. Izaak Balde 1693–1742
3. Catharina Balde and Jan Jacob Vermeeren 1742–1758
4. Suzanne Gertruy Vermeeren and Jan Pieter Bols 1759
5. Jan Gildemeester Sr. and Maria Ketter (Cathers) 1759–1779
6. Jan Gildemeester Janszoon 1779–1799
7. Anthony Dull and Marianne Dohrmann 1800–1834
8. Cornelius Proot 1835–1849
9. Pieter Proot 1849–1866
10. J.T Scholten 1866–1867
11. J.C. Knook and J.C. Groenewegen 1867–1882
12. Amsterdam Council 1882–present day

Occupants:
13. Pupils of the Linnaeus Horticultural Boarding School 1882–1894
14. Zwart family 1894–1921
15. J.R Koning 1923–1958
16. B. Merkelbach 1956–1961
17. Social-Cultural Watergraafsmeer Community Centre 1958–1982
18. Mr. Ph. J. van Vliet - B. Merkelbach family 1985–2005

The Dutch East India Company
The first occupant was Mr. Nicolaas van Liebergen. As a prosperous Watergraafsmeer citizen he had the house built by an architect, whose name to this day is unknown. From 1662 Nicolaas held the office of Dike and Shipping Reeve of Watergraafsmeer. The status a manor house embodied was important to the pursuance of such an office. Van Liebergen lived in the Golden Age; an Age of the Dutch East India Company, Rembrandt and Vermeer, as well as when the poems written by Joost van den Vondel first appeared.

Liberty, neighbourhood guests
Izaak Balde named Frankendael. The name derives from Frankenthal, a place near Worms in the Paltz, where his Lutheran parents fled to out of necessity from England, viaVlissingen, because of their faith. In Frankenthal they could practise their religion without the fear of being branded heretics. As such Frankenthal embodied liberty. Industrious citizen Izaak occupied himself with the trading and manufacturing of sheets and Gobelin tapestries. This afforded him the second home outside the city walls. Here he primarily invited gentlemen and their wives and children, the majority of whom came from neighbouring manor houses.

Summer residence
When Izaak passed away in 1742 without any issue, his niece and her husband, Catharina Balde and Jan Jacob Vermeeren inherited the manor house. The merchant and his wife only spent their Summers, until October, at Frankendael. They spent the remainder of the year on the Keizersgracht, close to the Westermarkt.

 

Art and whaling
Jan Gildemeester Jansz. inherited the manor house from his businessman father, Jan Gildemeester Sr. At a young age he started building up an art collection which slowly but surely grew into a collection known far and wide. He hung part of the collection at Frankendael.
In 1778 he was appointed Consul-General of the Portuguese Republic, a position he held alongside his whaling activities. One of his ships which sailed to Greenland and Norway bore the 'Frankendael' name. When Jan Gildemeester Jansz. passed away in 1799 he bequeathed his art collection along with Frankendael. A number of the paintings and works of art by, amongst others, Paulus Potter, Rembrandt and Vermeer are currently housed at Buckingham Palace.

Heir
Anthony Dull, Dike and Shipping Reeve of Watergraafsmeer, occupied Frankendael in great opulence until 1835. His wife, Marianne Dohrmann, inherited a sum of money and the household effects of Jan Gildemeester Janszoon in 1799. With this they purchased Frankendael. Marianne and Jan Janszoon had met each other in Portugal in unusual circumstances. She had lost her parents at a tender age to the 1734 earthquake. She was welcomed into the family of Daniel Gildemeester, the uncle of Jan Janszoon Gildemeester. Jan got to know Marianne when he started working at his uncle's firm in Portugal at the start of his career. Eventually she too moved to Amsterdam where, perhaps to the despair of Jan Janszoon, she married Anthony Dull.

 

Pleasure garden and Pentecost
Pieter Proot inherited Frankendael from his brother Cornelius and transformed the manor house into a pleasure garden. This was the age of parties, dinners, cold buffets; and cream could be obtained here three days a week. The rooms were already for hire back then. Frankendael became one of the most-visited tea gardens in Amsterdam. Its citizenry drank tea, or perhaps something a little stronger, in the garden, whilst the young played on the swings and sea-saws. Frankendael was in actual fact the first playground in Amsterdam! Activities were organised on certain feast days, such as 'dauwtrappen' (Dutch folk ritual on certain Spring days at dawn) and 'ascending' on Ascension Day and Pentecost on Whit Monday. On these days merrymakers would arrive from the city (particularly from the Jordaan) as well as the surrounding neighbourhood, to enjoy a day out in the fresh air, the aroma of roses, Parfait d’Amour, double Anisette, and small beer, along with a host of other original refreshments. The pleasure garden enjoyed huge popularity far outside Amsterdam's city walls.

 

Botanic lessons
But enjoyment has to end at sometime. Frankendael was sold in 1866, and eventually fell into the hands of the Dutch Linnaeus Horticultural Society. Not only was a nursery founded where trees, plants and horticultural products were traded, but horticultural training was also provided. Huize Frankendael became the principle building, which housed the delegates, a refectory and library.
The upper level served as lodging for the night for the pupils, and later as a boarding school. A bust of Linnaeus (1707 – 1778) was incorporated into the front façade. On the 13th May, his date of birth, he was celebrated each year with a vase of fresh flowers. During this time Frankendael received a number of Royal visits. The former Princess Wilhelmina appeared frequently at Frankendael in her youth. The Royal signatures in the Guest book, which can be viewed at the City Archive, testify to these visits. At this time Amsterdam inhabitants could become members of Frankendael. Concerts were also given by the Paleis voor Volksvlijt orchestra, conducted by J.M. Coenen. The Floralia Association also organised botanic exhibitions, at which children's games for the botanists' offspring were also initiated. Horticultural training continued under the charge of the Amsterdam Council, as the subsequent owners of Frankendael. During this period large outdoor lessons were given, often to 1000 pupils per lesson.

 

Open air theatre
As of 1927 the open air theatre proved the focal source of entertainment and pleasure for Amsterdam theatre-lovers during the Summer months. It was eventually razed to the ground. Eduard Verkade performed here with the Het Verenigd Toneel in classic and medieval plays and Old Dutch comedies and burlesques, such as Lancelot, hamlet, Macbeth and Elckerlije. This theatre comprised the 'best of our Fatherland's dramatic arts treasure chest'. The war unfortunately put paid to this and the annual Queen's Day celebrations. It was only in 1977 that Summer festivities were once again organised at Frankendael.

Rare trees
Trees and plants around Huize Frankendael have been preserved well. Not least the virtues of Mr. H.C. Zwart (1851-1923), Head of Municipal Planting, who after the 1894 fire at the Linnaeus school moved into Frankendael with his family.

Taste
His successor, Mr. J.R. De Koning (1890-1968), occupied the manor house with great devotion and taste. Together with the director of the Stedelijk Museum (Mr. D.C. Roëll) he organised the Amstel, Vecht and Zaan exhibition at the Stedeijk Museum in September 1943.

 

The Mayoral fireplace
City Master Builder B. Merkelbach (1901-1961) also occupied Frankendael with a huge amount of respect for historic legacy. As an architect he designed, amongst other things, the AVRO studio building (1936) and drew up the 1951 Frankendael renovations plans. He used the original marble fireplace from the Mayoral residence on the Herengracht when renovating the old fireplace in the living room. This fireplace can still be found in its original place.

Family life
The last occupants – the Ph. J. van Vliet – B. Merkelbach family – lived at Frankendael with much love and devotion. We have seen Mrs. Van Vliet's art collection for ourselves; a truly impressive collection which she was justifiably very proud of. The mosaic in the kitchen illustrates the Merkelbach – van Vliet family life. This mosaic which is still in situ in the kitchen will be preserved following the restoration. It will most probably be relocated to the right Coach house, as one of the building's numerous rich historical legacies.