Dolf Broese van Groenou was the son of a Wolter Broese van Groenou, a wealthy sugar plantation owner in the former Dutch East Indies. He graduated as a construction engineer from Delft University in 1904, after which he married and designed the villa in which he would live his entire life. He would continue to design mainly villas, including the ones for the family estate in Loenen and his father’s in Den Haag. Dolf would occasionally also design regular housing and office buildings. He was also a very versatile sportsman. In 1903 he was one of the first Dutch competitors at Wimbledon and in 1904 he represented the Netherlands in a cricket match in St. Louis. From 1922-38 he was president of the Dutch Tennis Association. In Amsterdam, he was also member of the Olympic Games Organizing Committee and served as a hockey referee.
Broese van Groenou frequently collaborated with Samuel de Clercq, with whom he also designed the Stadium for Scheveningen that was entered for the 1924 Olympics. This was a plan designed in 1919 for the “Westbroekpark The Hague Stadium”, which, however, was not carried out. The project was inspired by the sports official Pieter Scharroo. The plans show a stadium for 50 - 60,000 spectators with a cycling track, space for equestrian competitions, and water sports. At the insistence of the mayor of Den Haag, the project was finally rejected by the city council and a park was created instead.
Netherlands