MARLOT - EIGHTY YEARS AS A PRIME RESIDENTIAL AREA

It was in September 1923 that the first section of land in our residential area was made available, which is why now, eighty years later, we would like to pay tribute to this memorable event and take a look back at the history of our dear Marlot.

We are particularly pleased to recall the date of 12th March 1917, since it was on this date that the Marlot estate, covering an area of 91 hectares, was bought by the Council of The Hague for the sum of NLG 1,000,000. The city Council then made the decision to develop the estate as an exclusive residential area.

The Town Development Service, led by Engineer H.E. Suyver, assisted by architect Schurmann, was responsible for the street planning and the subdivision of the land into plots. The architects Co Brandes, W. Verschoor and J.J. Hellendoorn co-operated on the development plan and the architecture of these very special residences. Co Brandes designed the apartment block, which was completed in 1933 and which, after forty years, still stands as an example of an imaginative and yet intimate large scale residential building.

With a vote of 132 to 6, the Council of The Hague resolved to create this select residential estate, retaining the mansion as a Public Junior School, the park, the Hoogwerf farm and the vista of the fields behind the pond.

The 36.5 hectares between the Leidsestraatweg and Bezuidenhout were to be developed in the short term, whereas the rest of the complex, the land up to the Schenk, which was to become Mariahoeve, was to be developed at a later date.

The system of residential building which was applied, whereby specific requirements were laid down with regard to the materials used, the alignment of the buildings and the style of architecture, was not completely new. It had also been applied some centuries previously at the time of the building of the Prinsessegracht, which even today is noted for its beautiful facades, and was subsequently applied during the construction of the Lijnbaan in Rotterdam.

After a period of fifty years, it is fitting to remember with gratitude those people whose progressive ideas led to the realisation of this unique residential area. The Board of the Marlot Residents' Association therefore felt it would be a pleasant gesture to offer the members of the Association this booklet, which relates the Marlot story, as far as it can be traced.

The history of Marlot dates back to the year 1390. Marlot was part of the Tendenhout domain, a large, wooded area of dunes and marshes, most of which belonged to the Lord of Wassenaar, Viscount of Leiden, as well as a small section belonging to the shire of the Hague. We cannot be sure what the exact borders of the land were at that time. In fact, the two owners themselves were in doubt, until in 1445 a dispute arose between the shire and the Lord of Wassenaar. The Lord of Wasenaar won and as a result it was determined that the domain comprised the Haagse Bos, Oosterbeen manor, East Tolhek and, on the other side, the Loolaan.

The Loolaan ran from the 'lesser Loo' (an estate inhabited by Gerrit Potter van Loo) to the outer estate, 'greater Loo', in Voorburg.

This area, now known as Mariahoeve, was sold by Philip de Goede (Philip the Good) as reclaimed marshland. In the 14th century Tendenhout still consisted of a large, bare open area, which was planted with trees during the 15th century to provide fuel and hunting grounds for the lords of Holland. It was not until the 16th century that the dunes were excavated and the peat moors filled in with sand from the dunes.

In 1390 Engelbrecht Wernbouts came into possession of a part of Tendenhout sold to him by Count Aalbrecht.

Early in 1600 Adriaen van de Velde, a wealthy jeweller and sheriff of The Hague, bought the Blaue Camer (the Blue Room), one of the four large farms in this area, the others being the Hoogwerf, the Zuidwerf and Hofzicht.

The farm owed its name to the blue stone extension, which probably served as a hunting room. Even once the farm had been restored to its status as a mansion, it kept the name right up to 1917.

Van de Velde's heirs sold the farm to the Van Dam brothers. According to a deed drawn up by the lawyer Cornelis van Delvendiep on 9th July 1666, Maria de la Batist, resident of Bordeaux and widow of Trolius van Dam, lawyer to the Court of Holland, sold to David of Morlot (not Marlot as the name later became corrupted) 'a manor house and lands, called the Blauwe Camer with the house, outbuildings, barrows, saplings and vegetation, with the land belonging to it, altogether totalling 21 mornings*, with all the hillocks and rabbit warrens included'.

In 1848, via various other owners, such as the one time Ambassador to Paris, Lord A. van Hoey, the house and land eventually came into the hands of Squire Theodorus van Herzeele, Member of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. The last representative of this family, which died out in 1960, was also the last private owner of the estate, which he sold to the council of The Hague in 1917.

David of Morlot belonged to a French Huguenot family, of which 2 brothers Jacques and Thiebault fled from Fontenay to Geneva, where they were granted citizenship in 1569. After being raised to the nobility by the Duke of Lotharingen in 1583, the domain of Bavoy came into being (in later documents also called Bauvais), having been bought by the family. They were Lords of Bavoy.

David, born in Bern, settled in Holland after serving Duke Ludwig of Wurttemberg and on the recommendation of the Count, he became equerry to Prince Maurits.

On 30th October 1622 in Gorinchem he married A.M. van Steeland, daughter of Jan Philip, Lord of Grysoort, sheriff of Buren and Counsellor to the Prince, husband of Margaretha van Mechelen.

On 21st December 1626 he was appointed Captain of the 28th Corps in the Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijk regiment. On 4th August 1636 a State resolution appointed him governor to Willem II for military subjects such as 'high principles and other qualities befitting his birth' at an annual income of NLG 2,600. The previous year he had been promoted to Sergeant-Major of the Limburg Stirum regiment.

Through his marriage he acquired a great many possessions and was in a position to buy a house with grounds in the Poten for the, at that time, not insignificant sum of NLG 15,800. He was even in a position in May 1640 to lend a colleague, Captain Van Swartsteyn, the sum of NLG 8,000 Carolus guilders. There were two sons from his marriage: Ernst Philip and Lodewijk, and two daughters: Henriette Wilhelmina (who died in childhood in 1639) and Anna Catharina.

After Jacques Wyts' death, David of Morlot was appointed on 12th February 1643 to the position of Superintendant of the Military Council, which position he held until 1666. In that year the Provincial Council - who considered him too old - appointed Colonel Adriaen Cuyck van Meteren as his sucessor, approving that David retain the salary of £800 to the end of his life. David was by no means prepared to give up his position and continued to carry out his duties until 26th February 1674. Apparently, Adriaen van Meteren had by this time tired of waiting, since on the date mentioned Ferdinand Perponcher Sedinitsky was appointed Morlot's successor.

As early as 1640, he combined sections of land which had been bought into one estate, called Marlot.

By a power of attorney given by Frederik Hendrik to his secretary, dated 1643, the latter was authorised to pass a deed of mortgage for the Marlot estate on David of Marlot. The loan on the property was raised on 14th February 1646. Thereafter it was never raised again and became an allodium. This may have been connected with the purchase of non-mortgaged properties, through which the original property was considerably extended. Giving him this property in the form of a loan was in fact a favour to David of Morlot since it gave him the right to title himself Lord of Marlot, a title which was not automatically accorded to any ordinary beneficiary.

Before purchasing the Blaue Camer, David had in 1645 and 1648 already acquired certain adjoining parcels of meadowland and the 'House of Toornvliet'. In 1646 an 1647 he bought tithes in Utrecht and subsequently acquired the noble house Lichtenburg, Offenberg, Giessenburg, Giessen-Nieuwkerk, as well as land in Noord Beveland. According to the records of the lawyers Pauw, Deutz and others, he must have incurred debts of many thousands of guilders.

His son Ernst Philip followed in his father's military footsteps. On 26th September 1637 a certain Philip of Bavois - possibly this same son, who could not have been more than 15 years old - obtained a commission to set up a company (military) of 50 footsoldiers. What is certain is that Ernst Philip received a posting as adjutant in Captain Schoubergen's company. In 1650 he was still adjutant, as is indicated in a letter from the Prince who had granted him extension of leave of 6 months, to be spent in France, with a view to finalising marriage arrangements. On 29th April 1647 in the presence of Henriette Maria, the Queen of England and the Prince of Wales and other nobles, he married Gabrielle Morault, daughter of Pierre, Knight, Lord of the Vacherie, the State and Secret Council of the King and Jeanne Boinet.

In honour of this excellent marriage, his father made him a gift of the Praest estate and the fishery on the Old Rhine close to House Offenberg, on which David shortly before had raised a loan from the Elector of Brandenburg, as Duke of Kleef. In the same year David left his position of Governor to Prince Willem II, whose father, Frederik Hendrik, had not only granted his favourite David of Marlot shortly before in 1643 the right to title himself Lord of Marlot, but had also awarded him the favour of maintaining for the rest of his life his annual Governor's salary. Yet David could not have been in the best situation financially, since he was obliged on 15th July 1666 and again on 30th November 1668 to take up mortgages on the Blaue Camer.

The good fortunes of the Marlot family were not limited to the Ernst Philip's excellent marriage because the second son, L odewijk, made just as good a marriage with the daughter of a previously notable Knight family van den Boetzelaer. Lodewijk, Lord of Giessenburg and Giessen-Nieuwkerk, married Anna Florentina "of the Holy Catholic Ralm Baroness van den Boetzelaer," daughter of Philip Jacob I and Anna van der Noot. Anna Florentina was baptised on 9th August 1633 in the Great Church in The Hague and lived untill 1688. On his marriage, Lodewijk was appointed as Equerry of Prins Willem III, son of David, Lord of Bauvois of Bavoy and Ana Maria van Steelant.

In 1665 Lodewijk was appointed Captain and later became President of the Military Council. From this marriage Anna Maria van Marlot (1658-1695) was born, who married Gijsbert van Hardenbroek, Lord of Hinderstein and Groenewoude (Woudenberg). This couple on 14th July 1685 empowered Lady Anna Florentina van den Boetzelaer 'dowager of the Noble Born Lord Lodewijk of Marlot Nlg 3,000 - to trade on the Giessenburg estate.' Anna Maria was David's second granddaughter, Ernst Philip having had his son Johannes christened in the Great Church in The Hague on 21st June 1648. Lodewijk seemed to be a moderate man, unlike his brother Ernst Philip - as will become apparent - although in 1660 he brought a case against his father Davd regarding his rights to Giessen-Nieuwkerk house and estate. His case was so strong that his father David was imprisoned for a time, sentenced by the Court of Holland on 12th May 1662. The case was won by Lodewijk. Things were not going well for father David, since he was living in rented accommodation on the western side of Noordeinde.

According to literary sources, it appears that David of Marlot, 'Lord of Bavoy, Offenberg and Lichtenberch' had financial connections with Constantijn Huygens, regarding shares in 'a canal in Switzerland' between Yverdon and the lake of Geneva. After his death before or in 1675 his widow inherited Giessenburg. Constantijn Huygens was secretary to Frederik Hendrik over whom he had considerable influence. When the Prince in his later years devised the plan of building a country house in the Haagse Bos, Huygens was also involved in this. After the Prince died in 1647, his consort, Amalia van Solms, changed Pieter Post's building plans, so that a kind of dome was built, not a country house. Jacob van Campen was the builder. The Governor of the Prince of Orange, David Morlot, Lord of Bavoy, was also involved in the realisation of these plans. The building of the 'Orange Sael', begun in 1644, was completed in 1652. Many noted painters contributed to the decoration, including Honthorst en Jordaens. This account of the history of Marlot, which is to a considerable extent controlled by the fortunes of the family of that name, would not be complete without recounting the drama which developed around the person of Ernst Philip.

A Hagenaar in the Bastille

Under this heading General de Witt Huberts wrote in the evening edition of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant on 30th August 1926 in the section on 'unsolved mysteries and strange events in former years' a story about the unfortunate experiences of Ernst Philip of Marlot. From this story it appears that Ernst Philip during his stay in France was, rightly or wrongly, suspected of plotting against King Lodewijk XIV. The writer takes from the memoirs of Guy Joly (p. 69) a passage concerning a certain Morlot in Paris who in 1649 was sentenced to the gallows for having a libellous notice printed about the King, entitled 'la Custode'. On his way to the Place de Grève to serve his sentence, Ernst Philip apparently made use of an incident to make his escape.

Whether this Morlot was indeed our Ernst Philip remains in doubt, since this person is referred to as 'Count of Morlot' in all articles about his stay in France, whilst the good man on 29th April 1647, that is some years previously, had married - in the presence of many noble persons - the daughter of Knight Pierre Morault, of the State and Secret Council.

Whatever his behaviour may have been in 1649, in 1673 Lodewijk XIV signed an order committing Ernst Philip to castle Saumur by reason of 'soubz bonne et sauve garde'. The Count Morlot was later assigned Poitou as his place of residence with the injunction not to leave the province without the King's permission. On 2nd September 1677 he received permission to travel with his wife and retinue to Holland for a period of 3 months. He received a similar permission the following year. He travelled on a passport from Willem III. From a letter from the Venetian Ambassador in Paris, Foscarina, dated 27th April 1682 addressed to the Duke, it appears that Ernst Philip became suspected of having kept the Prince of Orange informed about events in France. If we cast our minds back 1672 and the French invasion of our country, it seems not unlikely that, being a good patriot, he would have warned his lord.

Huygens too seems to have been aware of Ernst Philip's difficulties since he mentioned in his diary on 22nd October 1682 that the French were having doubts about the nobility of Ernst Philip and had taxed him 6,000 guilders on his possessions there.

He tried to get the State of Holland to issue a statement about his nobility and aproached Prince Willem III with a request to intervene. The Prince refused and referred him to the Court of Holland. As a result of this, a fervent exchange of letters took place between the ministers Louvois and Pontchartin, the Ambassador of Avaux in the Hague and the Governor of the Bastille, de la Reynie. It appeared that Ernst Philip, who had again without permission left Poitou, was imprisoned in the Bastille on 8th November 1684 because of a 'plot against Louis XIV, on the intelligence of the Prince of Orange'. A further number of suspected parties were imprisoned along with him.

A month previously, on 18th October 1684, on the instructions of William III, a letter was handed over to d'Avaux by a certain widow Honton from Paris, signed 'Bidal' offering a sum of 100,000 ducats to poison the French King. Even though a former captain of the grenadiers, de la Berlière, known to be 'this Bidal', was arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille, Ernst Philip was suspected of being the writer and to have falsely signed the name 'Bidal'. Marlot continued to deny having written the letter and declared he would 'give half his blood if only the King would learn his good intentions'.

In June 1686 the King requested a detailed report about Marlot - who was still in the Bastille - and about the reasons for the freeing of the other suspects. In April 1687 Ernst Philip indicated that he wanted to convert to Catholicism.

The report requested by Lodewijk XIV did not appear to have achieved very much, at any rate Marlot was still in the Bastille in 1695. He was finally freed in 1697, and it is interesting to note that, although his release was signed at a much earlier date, yet it only came into effect on 29th October, since he had indicated his own wish to remain in prison for part of the winter at the King's expense.

According to the diary of the Lieutenant of the Bastille, de Junca, during his 13 year imprisonment he had saved 2,000 lire of the money which the King had paid for his maintenance.' His true role in this story remains a mystery.

In 1702 we come across his name again in Emmerik in a case at the High Court of Gelderland and two years later once more in the sentences of the Court of Holland, when he was obliged to resort to legal action against his sister Anna Catharina, who had made use of his being abroad to rent out tfor her own benefit land which had been granted to him in Zevenbergen, Klundert and Buren. The judgement on 11th December 1704 was that she should transfer to him all accounts and responsibility in full. Thereafter his name disappears from Holland, unless Ernst van Marlot, buried third class in the Hague on 15th June 1707, is the Hagenaar who spent so many years in the Bastille. This does not seem at all likely. Only much more in depth research could indicate the further fortunes of the Marlot family - which now appears to be extinct.

Street Names in Marlot

The old farms, the Hoogwerf, the Zuidwerf, the Blauwe Kamer and Hofzicht, as well as the estates Bavoy and Offenberg and the names Marlot and van Hoey can be seen in our streets.

It can be added that the Bloklandenplein is named after the nearby estates, the Bloklanden, and that the Zijdelaan gets its name from the ancient border between Delftland and Rijnland, the Zijde.

Various Owners of the Marlot Estate

We can see from a number of property deeds found in the council archives of the Hague that Marlot has been in the hands of the owners mentioned (see page 4).

The executors of David of Marlot bequeathed his possessions to Johan Hanneman in 1677.

Johanna van Wingen, née Hanneman, bequeathed her rights to Willem van Eck in 1708.

Abraham van Hoey received in 1750 7 mornings 349 rods from the estate of Willem van der Pol, which he in 1783 passed on to Mattheus Hermanus Gousset.

Maria Elisabeth Cassa-Gousset in 1797 passed the estate on to Margaretha Geelvinck, and in 1802 Joan Geelvinck bequeeathed this to Samuel Hoogstraten.

Conclusion

The events which took place during the time of the German occupation are still so fresh in the memories of many of the current residents, that it is felt to be undesirable to refer in this publication to the black-outs, bombings and V-2 violence in this publication.

The Board of the Marlot Residents Association hopes you have found the information given in this guide of interest and wishes you all many years of undisturbed - that is macrotunnel-free - enjoyment of this beautiful area.

Did you know that.

the school was originally intended as a tea house or hotel restaurant

the rebuilding costs in 1926 amounted to NLG 18,000

there was a house on the ground opposite the water pump by the bridge

the tennis courts behind were vegetable gardens

part of the vegetable gardens can still be seen

the gardener's house at the edge of the woods dates from 1900

in earlier times the children used to buy their sweets from Karel Ockenburgh, paying one cent for liquorice and five cents for nougat

the younger children received a sweet for errands from Verdries

the tradition of distributing sweets is finished

the nursery class used to be held at home, then in the school and that there is no longer a nursery in Marlot, nor a junior school

there was a stable on the site of the gym hall as late as 1928

5 hectares of land must always remain untouched

the layout of the park took a year and a half

the residents of Marlot used to be able to board the train at the Viaduct stop to go swimming in Scheveningen

many of the male residents used the same train stop to go to work in Rotterdam

there used to be two tram connections with the centre of town, the Wassenaar line and line 3 (later line 4)

in 1939 the Volunteer Fire Brigade was established, which had at its disposal its own fire engine

in September 1944 the whole of Marlot had to be evacuated

a number of families were back within a few days

during the bombing of Bezuidenhout, Marlot provided its own water supply with a water pump on the Zuidwerfplein

the distribution point of the soup kitchen was in the garage of Marlotlaan 12

the Irene brigade liberated Marlot before the Hague

the Canadians stored their tents in Marlot for a few months

after the war a committee for public parks and gardens was formed to organise the re-planting of Marlot

the small chapel was built in 1947

at the same time all the empty plots in Marlot were built on

there were less and less football fields

before the war there was a stork's nest in the meadow by the pond, and the base can still be seen

there are 389 houses in Marlot

Marlot has approximately one thousand residents

if you listen carefully every morning you can hear the cows, the striped goat and the blue heron bidding you a good morning