The land on which Huis Sonneveld is built is known as Het Land van Hoboken. It used to be the estate of the Van Hoboken family, which had earned a fortune from overseas trade, banking, shipowning and distilling. The estate covered a huge area, including large meadows, a park in the English landscape style, a number of country houses, villas - including Villa Dijkzigt - and farmhouses. It was a rural paradise on the southwestern edge of a growing, bustling city. Rotterdam's city council had been trying to buy the land from the Van Hoboken family since the 1880s, but the negotiations always foundered. The purchase finally took place in May 1924, with the council paying 4 million guilders. At the family's request, the area was given the name Dijkzigt, or dyke view. The Dijkzigt Villa Park was built on what had formerly been pasture, and Het Land van Hoboken has now been completely built over. Once it would have been overwhelmingly green; now it's covered in homes, museums and hospitals.