The fire that destroyed a historic farmhouse on Witterhaar in Assen last night was not ignited. According to the police, there are no signs of arson. What remains is a sad sight, with only a few walls of the centuries-old monumental farm still standing.
Apart from the personal tragedy for the couple who lived there, an important cultural-historical farm is also lost in the fire. Previous research shows that the so-called anchor beam trusses were felled in 1487. The first ‘version’ of the farm probably dates from 1490.
The trusses for the former business area were felled around 1640. The appearance of the farm as you could see it until yesterday is largely eighteenth century. “Although the appearance of the (…) farm is the result of various changes made over the centuries, the main shape has remained virtually intact,” can be read in a municipal document about the monument. “Little has been left of the old spatial layout of the farm due to adjustments to the requirements of the time and the changed function (now a residential house).”
According to the municipal monument list, the farm had great cultural-historical value. Moreover, the house was ‘generally quite intact and a recognizable example of an old Drenthe (…) farm type’. The architecture of the farm was also characteristic of traditional rural architecture in Drenthe.
It is not clear whether the old farm can still be partly rebuilt. Photos show that little is left of the centuries-old trusses. When extinguishing the fire, the fire brigade tried to take into account the walls that were still standing, in order to preserve as much of the building as possible. “It’s a shame, this was a disastrous fire,” responds Gerard de Vries of the Heemschut Heritage Association. “I know the building well, I have been there as an advisor.”
De Vries hopes that parts of the farm can be rebuilt. “We have already had brief consultations with Heemschut,” he says. “It still needs to be investigated, of course, but as far as we are concerned, the focus is on recovery. We also need the municipality for that. It must come back.” The municipality of Assen cannot yet say anything about this when asked.
Text continues after this photo series of the building from the 1970s: