Plantagekerk

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Zwolle, Plantagekerk. A markedly located (Christian) Reformed church building on the south-eastern edge of the old city, with a sexton's dwelling built on at the left side, constructed in the years 1874-1875 according to designs by the city architect J.W. Bosboom Sr. in an eclectic architectural language; use was made of Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance motifs. The complex stands at the site of the medieval Straatmakerstoren (demolished in 1838), at the point where the Aa flowed into the city before it was dammed in 1861, and adjoins the Ter Pelkwijkplantsoen, laid out and built around 1875. The neighbouring buildings likewise date from the late nineteenth century. The building owes its name to the Plantage that once lay in this area and dates from the mid-eighteenth century. During alterations in 1894 according to designs by architect S.J.H. Trooster Bzn., the tower above the main entrance was replaced by the current Neo-Renaissance gable-top. The interior components date largely from the construction period. The grounds are bounded at street frontage by a sober but well-maintained late-19th-century cast-iron fence with simple posts and, in front of the main entrance, two matching cast-iron lamp-standards with Neo-Gothic-looking motifs. On the north-eastern side the church is built onto the remains of the medieval city walls. Church building on a T-shaped plan, constructed of brown-red brick and covered by two perpendicular gabled roofs with slate cladding, with two roof-dormers on front and rear. The seven-bay wide front facade is articulated by tapering brick corner pilasters (of which the middle two have small pilasters), which rest on a high basement with stepped natural-stone drip moulding and, above the second stepped brick drip moulding, terminate in octagonal pinnacles with matching sandstone capitals; the front facade has round-arched windows of varying size on the ground floor and at the height of the organ gallery, single and paired, with fine Neo-Gothic-looking cast-iron tracery; the gable-top with a rising arch frieze has a slightly projecting stepped-pyramid crown with pilasters, decorative brickwork, ornamental ironwork and a weather-vane. The projecting entrance section is emphasised by a worked sandstone frame with pinnacles, heavy double panel doors with decorative hardware and a Neo-Gothic-looking fanlight. To the right of the entrance is a memorial stone (with an embedded document behind it) with the inscription: The first stone laid/ by Rev. W.H. Gispen/ on 2 July 1874/ dedicated to the Service of the LORD/ on 25 July 1875. The left side facade with a rising arch frieze and a slightly projecting stepped brick crown has three round-arched windows and a circular window with fine Neo-Gothic-looking cast-iron tracery and cast-iron ornamental wall anchors; the right side facade furthermore has a Neo-Gothic portal comparable to that in the front facade; the rear facade is articulated by brick corner pilasters, has a rising arch frieze, but is otherwise blank; a chimney runs up against it. In the fore-building, which functions as the main facade, are two portals arranged one behind the other that provide access to the hall-like church interior; service spaces lie on either side; a staircase leads up to the gallery and roof structure. The interior is covered by a ceiling divided into 24 panels; the 12 middle panels are recessed and have wooden beams with Neo-Gothic-looking four-foil designs and worked wooden hanging keystones; the construction rests on the sides on carved wooden corbels. The interior is further articulated by tall wainscoting with relief plasterwork, a few blind recesses and the deep organ gallery with profiled round arches and pilasters with Neo-Renaissance motifs (1894, architect S.J.H. Trooster Bzn.). The organ from 1866 is in its current form principally a creation of the Zwolle organ-builder Jan van Loo. The oak wood case with a three-tower front featuring King David playing the harp and two angel trumpeters, drapes and decorative work, likewise dates from 1866. Also of importance are the contemporary church furnishings, consisting of the two worked wooden canopy benches in front of the organ gallery, the simple wooden benches in the church interior and on the organ gallery, the wooden hymn-boards, the double brass crown and the four single brass crowns, the brass lighting fixtures above the wainscoting and the panel doors, and the brass carriage lamps. The original pulpit and font are no longer present. The very narrow sexton's dwelling built on at the left side, and which is set back somewhat along its length, has a design that in terms of materials and formal expression broadly aligns with the main building. Church building with attached sexton's dwelling and cast-iron grounds-fencing, created in the years 1874-1875 according to designs by the Zwolle city architect J.W. Bosboom Sr., of general significance on account of -the careful architectural design of exterior and interior -the largely contemporary interior components -the organ instrument with oak wood case from 1866, which in its current form is principally an instrument by Jan van Loo (a Zwolle native and one of the most important 19th-century organ-builders active in Overijssel and Gelderland) -the significance of the building for the oeuvre of J.W. Bosboom Sr. -the place the building occupies within the stylistic development of the (Christian) Reformed church building; this is expressed in the relatively rich detailing -the relationship with the medieval city wall and Straatmakerstoren -the urban-planning significance of its location at the Ter Pelkwijkpark, which forms part of the medieval defensive fortification of the city transformed around 1875 into a city walk