Kerk, Prins Hendrikstraat 2

English translation

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Description

CHURCH built in 1886-87 according to the design of A. van der Steur jr. for the Remonstrant Congregation, executed in neo-Renaissance style and connected by means of a link on the SW side with the sexton's house, with forecourts at either side of the entrance sections enclosed by ornamental railings.

Remonstrant church built in 1886-87 according to neo-Renaissance design by A. van der Steur jr., constructed in orange-coloured brick - alternated by artificial sandstone bands and other components such as string courses, copestone and voussoir stones and finished by a running cornice with triglyphs and consoles - on a cruciform ground plan at the corner of Wilhelminastraat, Prins Hendrikstraat and Oranjekade under a set of slate saddle and tent roofs in Dutch bond. On the NW corner a round stair tower with conical slate spire and on the corners of the transverse arms on the east and west sides each two cupolas tapering from four-sided to eight-sided form (together symbolising Jesus and the four Evangelists).

The church, six bays deep, has on the lower level rectangular blind or stained glass filled windows above which segmental arches and brickwork-filled arch barrels and above the string course high church windows with rounded arch-shaped fanlights with circular subdivisions; furthermore on each side a projecting central section containing an entrance - provided with double wooden doors with diagonal panels and ornamental hinges - with sandstone step.

The central risalit crowned by a gable with rounded arch window and bell-shaped top with side volutes on the Prins Hendrikstraat (north) contains the main entrance and the painted inscription with the design year anno 1886. The central risalits crowned by tent roofs with wrought iron ridge cresting and bull's-eye windows on Wilhelminastraat (east) and Oranjekade (west) each contain a side entrance with narrow windows on either side.

The northwestern stair tower is accessible from outside via an eight-step slightly curved step with side door on the left in the right side gable, and contains some rounded arch windows in the shaft finished by a profiled moulding and consoles and rectangular windows in the drum provided with a cornice; the spire furthermore contains four roof dormers designed as small bell openings and a pinnacle-shaped finial.

The associated iron railings are simply yet elegantly executed.

Internally the church, originally provided with 408 seats, is largely whitewashed and amongst other things fitted with a sloping floor towards the platform for the administration of baptism, communion and marriage solemnisation, with before the raised apse the wooden pulpit executed in neo-Renaissance style; the semicircular niche provided with a triumphal arch on pilasters has high wooden wainscoting finished by a moulding with triglyphs; at the rectangular pulpit, three bays wide, the 18th-century brass lectern from the former clandestine church. Of the original bench plan the fixed benches along the long sides and in the middle at the back of the nave remain. Apart from the original stained glass windows with red or yellow coloured borders - and in the upper section also the Star of David motif - seven stained glass windows in 1937-39 and one (in the NE corner) in mixed technique executed in the nave in 1947 have been installed according to design by the Haarlem glazier Roelf Gerbrands, with above geometric stained glass work and below coloured figurative representations executed in fired glass with grisaille work. The partly signed church windows depict on the west side the Passion narrative (Garden of Gethsemane, Emmaus), in the transept arms references to ecclesiastical ceremonies (east: fisherman and shepherd, marriage; west: harvest and grapes, Communion), furthermore the Whitsunday window with the Declaration of Principles, on the east side three Parables (Raising of Lazarus, Praise of the Lord, Good Samaritan) also commemorating three town councillors. The church space has been covered since 1888 by a wooden ceiling with main and secondary beams, resting on consoles in which faces are carved, and pilasters which in turn rest on the running string course with consoles; in the side arms and on the north side balconies have been installed with wooden railings and accessible via the southern stair sections in the side portals. The organ gallery placed across the full width of the church contains in the centre front the two-manual organ made in 1901 according to an enamel plate by J.F. Witte and J. Batz & Co. in Utrecht for this church, with on either side of the organ case two gilded wooden side pieces provided with carved work featuring musical instruments from the old clandestine church and originally possibly made by the Amsterdam sculptor Norma in 1790. The organ gallery is accessible via the wooden spiral stair in the round stair tower, which is also internally accessible from the NW side portal.

The draught portals separated from the church space are provided with stone floors laid with tiles bearing geometric and star motifs; in the NE portal a plaque in memory of the building pastor and a plaque in memory of the laying of the foundation stone in 1886, the dedication of the church in 1887 and of the organ in 1901.

Remonstrant church in neo-Renaissance style with associated internal and external components of general importance due to architectural and cultural-historical values and as an image-determining part of the development along the Wilhelminastraat in Haarlem.