This national monument from 1849 is located in a beautiful spot in the medieval center of IJsselstein. The different phases in the construction and design are still easy to distuinguish. From a mansion on the Kerkstraat with the extension of a cross house on the Kronenburgplantsoen, the complex formed a double mansion. In 1866 Kronenburgplantsoen 4 / 4a was sold as a separate mansion: “A logical LORD’S HOUSE, with large beautiful garden, equipped with: Corridor with white marble flooring, nine Rooms, including Suite, all rooms with fireplaces, Kitchen, Basement, Attic, Large 5 rods, 6 cubits” In 1960 the mansion was split into a lower and upper house.
Despite being a large house, the house lacks a large living space with a direct relationship to the (front) garden. The more private spaces on either side of the hallway in the front house are used as an office and hobbyroom. The current extension will be demolished and replaced by a contemporary extension that will be used as a kitchen. The new building presents itself as an independent pavilion with a lot of transparency as a counterpart to the more massive appearance of the monument. Bronze-colored steel for the frames and facade finishes form a nice contrast to the heaviness of the rough stucco of the monument. The new building respects the monument by connecting backwards to both the facade of the monument and the rear facade of the neighboring building.
The volume is manipulated in such a way that beautiful interstices are created that allow plenty of daylight to enter the kitchen and, on the other hand, offer beautiful visual relationships to the adjacent garden and surroundings. At the interface of the front and rear house, we designed a completely new stairwell. Here the entities become tangible again through function and finish. The void with daylight from the roof and the different views offer a better orientation in the now dark building and strengthen the mutual relationship of the different residential functions.
