Agnetapark, section one: an ornamental mix of eclectic buildings in a verdant setting

The nineteenth century part of Agnetapark is both a factory village and a model village based on the ferme orné from garden design. It is a precursor to later factory housing and examples of the Garden City Movement. The oldest part of this housing estate was built between 1884 and 1892. The housing was completed in the first two years. The whole was designed as a settlement on the edge of a park with the directors villa taking centre stage. This model is comparable to Villa Hügel and the Siedlung Brandenbusch (of 1885) -albeit on a much smaller scale.

A view across the lawn of the park towards the spot where once the villa of the director of the Yeast and Methylated Spirit Factory stood. That building was converted to a school and extended in 1929, but was taken down in 1981. This lead to calls for the whole estate to become listed.

Jacob Cornelis van Marken and his wife Agneta Matthes founded both the factory and the housing estate for workers. Their busts have been placed within a small rose garden that now occupies the spot where first their villa 'Rust Roest' stood.

The core of the model village behind the villa was made up of several Mulhouse Quadrangles. The higher building at the centre originally comprised of 8 flats. The blocks around it are lower and were conceived as standard Mulhouse Quadrangles consisting of 4 separate dwelling under one roof. These buildings have been redeveloped with half the number of dwellings each.

This building known as "The Tent" replaces a wooden building on the edge of the serpentine lake. It was built in 1914 in brick to house the music hall and two cooperative shops. It's now used as a business premises.

This large block housed the park executive and workshops on the ground floor. It was built in 1886 and originally also housed a printing press. It is now home to a number of small businesses. The eclectic style of the building is typical of late nineteenth century urban architecture that combined reworked motifs with modern materials and structural innovations to create an aesthetic impression.

Behind the workshops new workshops were created in 1930 in this wooden building in the Holland vernacular known from the area north of Amsterdam (Waterland and Zaanstreek). The larger building housed the printing press. A cottage of 3 dwellings was demolished to make way for these buildings.

The Frederik Matthesstraat -named after the brother of Agneta Matthes - van Marken- curved around the Mulhouse Quadrangles. These are terraced cottages comprising 4 or 3 dwellings each. All have a small front garden with a privet hedge and identical wooden gates. These houses were completed in 1886. The cars lining the narrow street are indicative of the time this estate was planned [for factory workers that walked to work and didn't own any private means of transportation other than a bike].

The Mulhouse Quadrangles (now reduced to Mulhouse Doubles) are built in a similar style as the cottages with two colours of brick and arched features above the windows. The architecture references Dutch Renaissance architecture. A narrow street called Zierenstraat serviced the central dwellings of the Mulhouse Quadrangles and is now un unnamed path accessing the gardens.

Two larger block of terraced housing are located between the Mulhouse Quadrangles and the Pasteurstraat. The architecture is very similar to that of the cottages. The same privet hedges as used elsewhere create a semi-rural feel.

The cottages along the Pasteurstraat are identical to the other cottages. The front gardens are of a similar size and follow the narrow semicircular street. At the end of the Pasteurstraat a large ornamental gate reading AGNET APARK gives access to the park proper and separates the housing from the community building known as "De Gemeenschap". This building now houses a restaurant.

A view across the serpentine lake towards "De Lindenhof" (Lime House) the former community building. This building was erected between 1891 and 1892 in a style distinctly different from the rest of the housing estate. A turret indicates the entrance and gives this building its distinctive outline. All amenities were placed at some distance from each other around the park much like park follies or attractions.

Another view across the serpentine lake. Behind the (former) Mulhouse Quadrangles the buildings of the present yeast factory operated by DSM are clearly visible. The park itself is a standard small-scale landscape park with winding paths, clumps of trees groups of shrubs and areas of lawn. In some places early interest has been created by planting daffodils.

These semidetached houses were built to house overseers and more skilled workers. They are situates on the edge of the park. Originally more of these were planned, but it turned out that 5 of these dwellings were sufficient. The second development was partly built over these planned but never executed houses.