The D'Oliphant, also written as De Oliphant, was commissioned in 1591 by
Cornelis van Wijkcool as "boerenbehuizinge" built near
Nieuwesluis on the island
Voorne. Oliphant translates into "Elephant" although the current spelling of the Dutch word is Olifant. The octagonal tower part of the house was probably designed to give the allure of a knight homestead and to suggest that the owner belonged to an ancient and noble family. The house was moved in 1975 and is now located at the Kromme Zandweg 90 in the district of
Charlois in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
.
{{Rijksmonument, 32924
Name
Cornelis Coolwijk was active in the
ivory trade
The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, black and white rhinos, mammoth, and most commonly, African elephant, African and Asian elephants.
Ivory has been traded for hundred ...
. At the time of the building he lived in Delft, "In de Gulden Olyphant" ("In the Golden Elephant"), which also refers to the source of his fortune. On the front face of the mansion a coat of arms containing an elephant with a castle on its.
History
Initially, the mansion was a tenant farm house. In 1772 it turned into an outpost and, in the 19th century, the permanent residence of the mayor of
Zwartewaal. There was at one time dairy factory located in the mansion. In 1975, the manor as a whole was moved from Nieuwesluis, Voorne channel to Rotterdam district Charlois, on the site of a recently burned farm. The hamlets of
Nieuwesluis, and
Blankenburg on the other side of the
Brielse Maas, disappeared under meters of sand. The building is now mainly used for business meetings and weddings.
External links
Website of "de Oliphant"Website about the disappeared village of Nieuwesluis
Rijksmonuments in Rotterdam