Woonhuis, 2e Scheepvaartstraat 91 A

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

Row of WORKERS' DWELLINGS with two storeys and flat roof, originally consisting of eighty-six upper and lower apartments, four shops and two storage spaces and a library, built in 1924-'27 according to a design by J.J.P. Oud, incorporating the aesthetic principles of "De Stijl" - evident in the pursuit of clear proportions of crisp outlines and "dematerialisation" through the application of white render and large glazed surfaces - and of functionalism - through the emphasis on the collective building block by means of a continuous projecting balcony with stone balustrade running the full length of the facade on the front elevation, which is provided with uniform facade divisions, while simultaneously attending to the individual dwelling through the arrangement of small gardens on the front - bounded by rectangular brick walls - and on the rear - interlocking T-shaped - as well as through the application of carefully designed floor plans, and of individual, once-projecting balconies and of rectangular bay windows spanning both storeys on the rear elevation.

The row is interrupted in the middle on the street side to accommodate a recessed gateway in which a library and a dwelling were originally housed; on the sides the row is each time terminated with a semicircle whereby the shops were arranged on the ground floor, provided with equally semicircular shop windows over virtually the full height and width of the facade with otherwise a steel shop front, and whereby the balcony of the upper storey has been turned around the corner.

The dwellings are constructed in brick whereby originally a continuous plinth in yellow brick was left exposed to view (but is now rendered grey), and whereby the remainder, with the exception of certain areas at the bay windows on the rear elevation, is entirely rendered white. Each dwelling contains, if on the ground floor, five coupled windows in grey steel frames and an entrance door to the side - each time coupled with the next - and if on the upper floor, four windows and a balcony door of equal width in the middle of the front elevation; three windows, a bay window with side window, door and coupled fanlights on both storeys on the rear elevation; the upper apartments, whose facade on the front elevation is set slightly further back, are separated from each other at the front balcony by means of a blue railing.

The recessed gateway building counts three window axes on the front elevation and seven on the rear, of which the five in the middle each contain two coupled windows; on either side of the rectangular, likewise windowed gateway, two single entrances are situated on the front elevation and two double entrances on the rear elevation; the side elevations likewise contain window strips.

Both outermost shop dwellings of the building row possess an L-shaped extension in comparable manner in which the dwellings are housed, with an even lower, cubic-shaped annex serving as workshop/storage space and provided with double steel doors.

Row of workers' dwellings with shops, workshop/storage spaces and gateway building, first project of social housing in which the principles of "De Stijl" have been incorporated, together with functionalist ideas, for which the strictly executed uniform facade division is characteristic, and with strikingly strong horizontalising tendencies.