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The Round House (Dutch: ''Ronde Huis'') was a round villa in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, located in the municipality of
Nunspeet Nunspeet () is a municipality and town in the central Netherlands. It has been an agricultural site since prehistoric times. The municipality contains a number of villages, namely Hulshorst, Elspeet, and Vierhouten. Nunspeet has a vivid historica ...
. It was demolished in 1967 but its traces remain visible in the
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
.


History


Nieuw Nunspeet

In 1890 ''Frank van Vloten'' (1858–1930), from the Dutch patrician family Van Vloten, purchased the estate ''Groeneveld'' in Hulshorst, in the municipality of
Nunspeet Nunspeet () is a municipality and town in the central Netherlands. It has been an agricultural site since prehistoric times. The municipality contains a number of villages, namely Hulshorst, Elspeet, and Vierhouten. Nunspeet has a vivid historica ...
. He sold the property in 1891 to his wife Constance Lans and they finally moved into the property in 1893. In 1895 Frank van Vloten purchased land closer to the village of Nunspeet and together with his brother Willem van Vloten he founded the company ''Nieuw Nunspeet''. In 1902 another 360-hectare patch of land was added to the company. In 1906 the first stone was laid of a round villa which would become known as ''Het Ronde Huis'' (''The Round House'').


House

The ''Round House'' had three floors and a flat roof. An entrance road circled around the house towards the main entrance on the second floor which had a balcony all around the house. The round inner gallery on the third floor received daylight through a couloured glass dome in the roof. After the establishment of the ''Round House'' the surroundings were transformed to a landscape park.


Estate

The estate included roughly the area between Nunspeet railway station and Vierhouten, with remains of the park still visible in the form of ponds surrounded with
Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...
bushes and a
Honey locust The honey locust (''Gleditsia triacanthos''), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys. Honey ...
. Van vloten experimented with different
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
management methods and introduced several alien tree species and plants. Nowadays, the Nunspeet golf course is situated on part of the former estate.


Narrow gauge tramway

Frank van vloten constructed a pony-drawn tramway from his estate to Nunspeet railway station. It was built in
Decauville Decauville () was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow-gauge track fastened to st ...
-style portable
rail track Railway track ( and UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers (railroad ties in American E ...
. One surviving tram
carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
was restored to working order at the and now resides at the heritage railway.


Death of Frank van Vloten

Frank van Vloten died in 1930. The estate was divided and sold. The house and its surroundings became now property of
Staatsbosbeheer Staatsbosbeheer, founded in 1899, is a Dutch government organization for forestry and the management of nature reserves. Staatsbosbeheer currently oversees over 250,000 hectares of land in the Netherlands. Usually this land is open to the public ...
and started deteriorating, other parts of the estate were clearcut by a local forester.


Second World War

During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the house was used as a labour camp of the Dutch
Arbeitseinsatz ''Arbeitseinsatz'' () was a Forced labor in Germany during World War II, forced labour category of internment within Nazi Germany () during World War II. When German men were conscription, called up for military service, Nazi German authorities r ...
. Nearby refugees hid in the forest in a shelter later to become known as the ''Verscholen Dorp'' (''Hidden village''). In 1944 a
Rheinbote ''Rheinbote'' (''Rhine Messenger'') was a German short range ballistic rocket developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig at Berlin- Marienfelde during World War II. It was intended to replace, or at least supplement, large-bore artillery by providing fire su ...
ballistic missile launchpad was constructed on the estate.


Demise

After the war the former labour camp became a family resort for social weak families and from 1961 to 1966 it was a holiday camp. At the end of the sixties it was decided to demolish the house and camp.


Conspiracy theories

Articles published in 1976 and 2006 speculated that Frank van Vloten organised orgies and
occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
rituals at the ''Round House''. In 2011 a Dutch weblog published an even more extreme version of these rumours and the subject was debated on the Dutch
FOK! FOK! is a Dutch website and virtual community, containing active content like news, reviews, columns and polls. It was founded by Danny Roodbol, and is one of the largest internet communities of the Netherlands. The forum's user group is divers ...
forum, where several participants started an investigation. In 2012 a controversial book was published which stated that Frank van Vloten was a member of a Pan-Germanist
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
and the publication attracted some media coverage. Two magazines, ''
Skepter ''Skepter'' is a popular science magazine of the Dutch skeptical foundation Stichting Skepsis. It describes paranormal or controversial theories and methods from a skeptical perspective. History In its first issue, the contemporary presiden ...
'' and ''G-Geschiedenis'', put the theory in question in 2013, followed by two crime thrillers in 2014, loosely based on the rumours. A new non-fiction book was published on June 14, 2014 in which the conspiracy theories are dubbed a saga. There are absolutely no grounds to suspect Frank van Vloten as a pan-German occultist and a lot of written statements have proven that nothing out of the ordinary happened in the extraordinary house., ''Wie Nunspeet zegt, zegt Van Vloten. De sage van het Ronde Huis'' (
Zoetermeer Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2023 this had grown to 126.998 ...
2014).


References

{{coord, 52.3599, N, 5.8010, E, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:NL, display=title Buildings and structures in Gelderland Nunspeet