Jachthuis Sint Hubertus

Jachthuis Sint Hubertus is the hunting lodge that Helene and Anton Kröller-Müller commissioned in 1914 for the estate that later became Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe. It stands in the northern part of the park, between Hoenderloo and Otterlo, and the Hoenderloo entrance is the natural way in from the village. Hendrik Petrus Berlage, the architect of the Amsterdam stock exchange, designed it between 1914 and 1919, and building ran from 1915 to 1920. Berlage walked away from the job in 1919 after repeated changes of plan by his clients, and Henry van de Velde completed the work.

The whole building is a story about Saint Hubert of Liège, the patron saint of hunters, who according to legend saw a cross between the antlers of a stag. Two wings reach out from a central tower of 31 metres, and from the air the plan resembles a pair of antlers, though nobody knows for certain whether Berlage meant it that way. A cross tops the tower. Inside, stained-glass windows in the hall tell the saint's legend, and the hall, dining room, library and tea room each carry their own colour scheme, linked to stages of his life.

Berlage treated the lodge as a total work of art. He designed the furniture, tiles, lamps, tableware and even the cutlery, as well as the gardens, outbuildings and a bridge. Artists including Bart van der Leck, Joseph Mendes da Costa, Hildo Krop, Lambertus Zijl and the glass artist Artur Hennig contributed. The house was modern for its time, with its own generator and water supply, a central vacuum system, a lift that still works and ground-floor windows that sink down into the cellar walls. Glazed brick, slate roofs and teak shutters give it a sober, heavy look beside the pond in front.

The Kröller-Müllers gave the lodge to the Dutch state in 1935. In April 1946 it hosted talks between the Netherlands and Indonesian representatives, and it is still used to receive guests of the state. A restoration between 2012 and 2014 renewed all wiring and pipes, brought back the original colour scheme and replaced about 80,000 roof slates. The building has been a national monument since 2007.

Visits are by guided tour only, through the five main rooms, and a park entrance ticket is needed on top of the tour. The lodge is a good choice for anyone interested in early twentieth-century Dutch architecture and design, and it pairs naturally with the Kröller-Müller Museum, which the same couple founded.