Buitenplaats

A buitenplaats (literally "outside place") was a summer residence for rich townspeople in the Netherlands. During the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, many traders and city administrators in Dutch towns became very wealthy. Many of them bought country estates, at first mainly to collect rents, however soon mansions started to be built there, which were used only during the summer.

These buitenplaatsen, or buitenhuizen could be found in picturesque regions which were easily accessible from the owner's home in town, and they were near a clean water source. Most wealthy families kept their children in buitenhuizen during the summer to flee the putrid canals of the cities and the accompanying onset of cholera and other diseases. Though most buitenhuizen have been demolished, examples are still in existence are along the river Vecht, the river Amstel, the Spaarne in Kennemerland, the river Vliet and in Wassenaar. Some still exist near former lakes (now polders) like the Wijkermeer, Watergraafsmeer and the Beemster, which were popular too. In the 19th century with improvements in water management, new regions came into fashion, such as the Utrecht Hill Ridge (Utrechtse Heuvelrug) and the area around Arnhem.

Buitenplaatsen are often mistaken for castles; however, a castle usually dates from medieval times and thus was usually founded and owned by nobles, while buitenplaatsen were primarily built and owned by the newly rich bourgeoisie during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Many buitenhuizen are built on top of the ruins of earlier castles that were destroyed during the Dutch revolt. The owners adopted the castle name, giving themselves a hint of nobility. Like early English country houses, buitenhuizen were only used during the summer. The wealthy owners then returned in the autumn to their residences in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, The Hague, Haarlem, Dordrecht, and other prominent cities. By the end of the 18th century these places were lined up side by side along the banks of the more prominent rivers. William Thomas Beckford, who published an account of his letters back home from his Grand Tour, traveled by trekschuit from Amsterdam to Utrecht and wrote home on July 2nd. 1780 with this to say over the buitenhuizen along the Vecht river;

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