I visited Noordeinde Palace recently with some friends and we were quite excited until we entered the building and we left 40 mins later totally unimpressed. Most visitors seemed to agree that the only 'state' room in the building that makes a lasting impression is the East Indies Room even though you can only have a quick peak standing in the doorway for 30 seconds.

I will share some of my observations here:

- Modest. The dimensions of the rooms and halls are very modest. Now you can' blame the building for being what it is but it is remarkable. The Great Ball Room is not that great i.e. large.: How they manage to fit 2 hundred + people in there during state visits is a mystery to me. It can't be very comfortable and I wonder how people get enough oxygen in their system to avoid collapsing on the posh dinner service in front of them.

- Fake. The presence of a fair amount of imitation marble and stone: painted plastered walls, columns and pilasters create a very fake feel even though there's also a fair amount of real marble / stone present. Some of the modern additions (plastic painted doors by Marthe Roling etc.) don't help either. I hate, I repeat hate the plexiglass side tables placed in several rooms and the heavy cloths totally covering most of the (side) tables. You wonder whether the tables under neath are even antiques and not just cheap folding tables. I didn't dare to lift the cloths. I should have!

- Empty. Several rooms actually don't have much (antique) furniture or artefacts in them. The Balcony Room has the potential to awe but deliberate or not it looks and feels impressively empty with the (nice) Empire furniture that is present ( in the back). Now it might have been a deliberate choice to keep the rooms and spaces sparsely decorated for audiences and receptions etc but it creates a rather cold and 'functional' empty atmosphere. The only cozy place was the small Green Anti-Chambre. I love the elegant round sofa in there!

- Strange. The Vestibule in the back is a very, very strange space. It just does not make sense. I know it was created by a reputable architect at the time but what was he thinking? Really. I also can't understand some, well actually many of the styling choices or lack thereof in the rooms. The White Ball Room is in one word a mess. It is by far the biggest mismatch of furniture you and I will have ever seen. Truly! It looks like a five year old choose the furniture while running around on a sugar rush in IKEA. The Room is stunning, the furniture ruins it!

- Tired. The palace needs a good cleaning and quite some repairs. General condition of the rooms, including floors, carpets etc is not great. Nothing compares to Soestdijk which is truly a dump but the interior has seen better days and it s starting to look worn down. Chipped paint and flooring, dirty windows and chandeliers, de-colouring of the (real) marble, stains in carpets, Oxydation patches on mirrors etc. I guess in the evening with the right lighting it might look somewhat better but during the daytime, the place looks tired.


I am curious what others who visited (live or online)think of the interior.