The castle had a predecessor that, on a drawing by Jacob Pronk, looked like a rectangular country house. This house was replaced by a white country house in 1794, and then it was further enlarged in 1810.
Although the Van Broeckhuysen family is already mentioned in this region in 1250, a first loan with Broekhuizen to Jan van Broeckhuysen by the Cathedral Chapter was not made until 1393, and a year later with the adjacent estate Schevichoven.
In 1406, the brother of the widow of this Jan, Tyman van Zuylen, was granted " 't huis te Broekhuisen" by the Lord of Gaesbeek. This indicates that the Broekhuizen estate had two feudal lords and the house stood on that of the Lord of Gaesbeek.
Through sales, it eventually came to the wealthy Amsterdam merchant Mr. Cornelis Jan van Nellesteyn in 1793, who had the current house built. In 1824 he also had the house Nieuw Broekhuizen built a little further north, where he died in 1832. In 1818 Nellesteyn had a tomb built on the neighbouring hill Donderberg. His grandson sold Broekhuizen in 1897 to mr. Maarten Iman ridder Pauw van Wieldrecht. That year he had a coach house and stable designed by architect Johannes van Nieukerken from The Hague.[1]
The 20th century
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In 1939 the property passed to the daughter of Pauw van Wieldrecht. She married jhr. mr. Th.J.G. Stratenus. Their two sons sold the house and estate to the government in 1965, which established the National Institute for Nature Management there from 1971 to 1996 and then sold it to Staatsbosbeheer.
The 21st century
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Staatsbosbeheer then sold the buildings with the right of collateral to a private individual. This buyer could not pay the mortgage and in 2006 it came to mortgage bank Delta Lloyd. The interior was in poor condition. In 2007, Staatsbosbeheer started a thorough restoration of the English garden designed by Michael and Zocher. A disabled path was constructed during this restoration. Delta Lloyd had the castle restored. Since May 2011, after a vacancy period of seven years, there has been a new owner. At the end of 2016, the estate was reopened after a further renovation as Parc Broekhuizen, after which it was given a catering and hotel destination. Restaurant Voltaire opened its doors in 2016, under the leadership of top chef Jacob Jan Boerma. In 2018, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star.[2]
A beautiful place where you can now sleep (probably for a little more than my budget), but it used to be the home of the nobility. As a walker you can enjoy the surrounding park.