With a theatrical wave, alderman Rik Thijs (land and greening, GroenLinks) focuses the small remote control on the large gate of Landgoed de Wielewaal in Eindhoven. “3, 2, 1 …” The public, a few dozen residents and entrepreneurs from the neighborhood, watches expectantly. It is just after sunrise and mouse silent. But the gate stays closed. Or no, there it goes anyway. The two iron fences, which give access to a long avenue, open the two iron gates. The pace is understandable, Thijs jokes: “They had to wait three years.”
For more than a hundred years, the estate was almost inaccessible to the public. The Philips family bought the area in 1912 – Frits Philips Senior lived there until his death in 2005. In 2007, textile entrepreneur Marc Brouwers bought the estate to sell it to the municipality in 2022. And now, since Saturday morning, September 27, the 142 hectares of greenery – two hundred football pitches – can be entered from sunrise to sunset for everyone.
“The estate was always a big mystery for Eindhoven players,” says Joam De Stoppelaar (61), who has a catering pavilion in the neighborhood. “We always wanted to know how Mr. Philips lived. That mystery is now being revealed.”
Not entirely: only a third of the site will be accessible. The rest is for the animals and the tranquility of some residents. Two heirs of the Philips family still live on the estate. Their site is closed with fences. They agreed with the municipality that no festivals or mountain bikes can go on the estate.
The characteristic country house in the middle of the site is partly public: there, among other things, two -star restaurant Tribeca are moving, a bistro and a hotel. The Bentley from 1949 in the wine cellar also stays there: it was packed by Marc Brouwers during the thorough renovation of the country house and can no longer get out.
No homes
Alderman Rik Thijs remembers that the municipality decided to buy the area, he tells the gate where a violinist provides atmospheric music. “In a lecture meeting there was a plan for 750 homes from a project developer. But we did not decide to cooperate. Then I and a fellow alderman learned our finger: shall we try to buy it as a municipality?”
Yes, Eindhoven is also short of houses, but “that means that you shouldn’t build in other places,” says Thijs. “There you have to give Eindhoven team the chance to relax.” The forty thousand homes that Eindhoven wants to build in the next fifteen years must come to existing neighborhoods, says Thijs. “Those are not large family homes with a garden, but especially apartments with balconies and shared gardens. Then you need these types of parks.”
Photo Walter Autumn
All of them voted for all municipal councilors for the purchase, worth 29 million euros in February 2022. It was even applauded. Yet “it remains a lot of money,” says Joam de Stoppelaar. Moreover, there is already a lot of greenery around the estate, such as the Philips van Lenneppark and the Philips de Jongh Walkelpark.
But the municipality had the social value of the area calculated. “It is often not in the books,” says Alderman Thijs. The RIVM, CBS and Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) study showed that this value rises to at least 120 million euros in thirty years. The health gain alone would at least yield 2.7 million euros per year.
Retired heritage specialist Sandra den Dulk, who obtained his PhD in the field of city parks, believes that the municipality has “a foresight”. The idea that Green is good for health dates back to the seventeenth century, says Den Dulk. Then trees were already planted and many hiking parks were built during the nineteenth century. “Eindhoven later benefits from this.”
Head down
Walking is certainly good for his mental health for Elisé Minani (19). He goes ‘very often’ to the adjacent Philips de Jongh Walkelpark “to keep my head calm,” he says on a long avenue with oak. But that park is often busy, so he welcomes the new estate.
Ruud and Joke Cramer (both 79) are also happy with the green, but had expected some more ‘winding paths’, says Ruud, who worked for Philips for almost forty years. “Something nicer,” said Joke. Due to the many forbidden access signs, there is little choice left for the pedestrian. Quite a few paths are equipped with wooded banks on either side to prevent visitors from walking into the forests.
Photo Walter Autumn
The young parents Robin and Bram van der Somme (both 34) walk a little further, with their children (2 and 0.5) and dog, very satisfied with another long avenue. “This area was always a black box,” says Robin. Bram: “As if you have a new one in a game area unlocket. ” They find the opening “the biggest upgrade of the neighborhood, perhaps in the whole of Eindhoven, in recent history,” says Robin. “Normally we would ride a bit with all the stuff during the weekend so that we can go for a walk with the dog, but that is no longer necessary.”
They had not yet received that it cost 29 million euros, but they think the park is “worth it anyway,” says Robin. “This is almost priceless. ”
NEW: Give this article as a gift
As an NRC subscriber you can do every month 10 articles Give a gift to someone without an NRC subscription. The recipient can read the article directly, without a payment wall.