The Middenweg was the first road laid out after the Heerhugowaard lake was drained in 1631. On 20 June of that year the new plots were allocated by lottery in Alkmaar town hall. The polder's farmhouses then rose along the Middenweg.
Middenweg 1 is one of those farmhouses: a stolp, the building type that defines the North Holland landscape. Beneath a single pyramid-shaped roof, carried by a heavy timber frame known as the vierkant, lay the front house for living, the cowshed, the threshing floor and, in the centre, the hay. In this double stolp that load-bearing frame is a zeskant (six-post frame). The Boerderijenstichting Noord-Holland (North Holland Farmhouse Foundation) describes this building as a double stolp with a thatched roof. The stolp dates from the 1920s.
Much of its character has been preserved: the thatched hipped roof with the "spiegel" (mirror) of glazed tiles on its front slope, the round chimney, the threshing-floor doors at the rear, and the heavy timber zeskant: the main frame of the roof, with heavy posts, lower and upper beams and double braces.
1624–1631
Alkmaar regents initiate the drainage; in 1631 the polder runs dry and the plots are allocated by lottery.
1631
The Middenweg is laid out as the polder's first road.
1877
Steam pumping station on the Huygendijk; now the Poldermuseum, within walking distance.
1920s
Construction of the double stolp.
2003–2009
Construction of Stad van de Zon and Park van Luna; official opening in 2009.
2021
Pre-purchase technical survey by a specialist in stolp farmhouses; its findings formed part of the basis for the renovation.
2022
Permit to divide the building into two homes; timber of the zeskant and roof treated against woodworm, with a warranty until 2032. Certified asbestos survey: no asbestos found.
2024–2026
Complete renovation: insulation, new thatch on the east side, new building services, kitchens and bathrooms.
