Gemeentelijk Badhuis

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

Introduction

Municipal bathhouse (Spionkopstraat 13), annex two dwellings (Spionkopstraat 11 and 15) in the style of the Nieuwe Haagse School with influence from the architecture of Berlage, built in 1925 to the design of A.A. Schadee, chief of the architectural department of Municipal Works. The bathhouse and the flanking dwellings form a detached ensemble, with the front facades on Spionkopstraat. The bathhouse was designed as part of a complex on a square site between Spionkop-, Colenso- and Majubastraat and Kaapseplein. The other three sides of this square provided space for school buildings, of which only the one on Colensostraat still exists in more or less its original form.

Description

The central section of the bathhouse consists of a basement with principal floor and covers a rectangle with at the rear a nine-sided closure which is surrounded by a lower, semi-circular ambulatory. The central part carries a hipped roof covered with tiles, crowned by a ventilation structure with overhanging tent roof. The ambulatory has a flat roof. On the front side there is a lower, flat-roofed entrance wing with chamfered corners and a raised central section, in which the main entrance. This wing consists, like the central bathhouse itself, of a basement and principal floor. Recessed, likewise flat-roofed side wings form the connection with both dwellings. Both the bathhouse and the dwellings are executed in brick with roof cornices, string courses, lintels and window sills, for which concrete with spray render was used. The central bathhouse shows at the polygonal rear side masonry cantilevers at the corners. The corners of the front facade are built higher and covered by projecting concrete plates. The ambulatory at the rear has buttresses and at the corners risalits with entrances under concrete canopies. On the risalits masonry corner parapets as at the corners of the front facade. The ambulatory further contains rectangular, blocked windows. The entrance wing on the front side has at the chamfered corners windows with lintels and window sills of concrete built out as canopies. A brick platform with side staircases gives access to the main entrance. This is placed under a concrete canopy and still possesses the authentic panelled door with panels and ornamental ironwork. Above this is attached to the wall a flagpole with holder executed in decorative ironwork. The platform has on the front side an access door to the basement. To the left of the entrance wing is a staircase to the boiler room, the stairwell is provided with iron railings. On either side of the central bathhouse stands a high, square chimney built in brick. The flat-roofed side wings between the entrance wing and the dwellings have quadruple coupled windows and cross windows, all with timber frames. The interior has preserved its structure virtually completely and its authentic character for a large part. The vestibule at the main entrance and the corridors on the left and right contain lambrequins of yellow tiles with a brown band. The central bathing area, called the "inner ring", has shower cubicles that were renewed in the early eighties. The "outer ring" is separated from this by the load-bearing wall of the inner ring. The outer ring has been preserved in virtually authentic condition: lambrequins and shower cubicles clad with glazed white brick, ceiling with supporting beams and consoles and six-pane windows with timber frames in the horizontal windows. The windows are blocked. To the left of the central section the former waiting room for men; to the right of the central section the former women's waiting room, originally with changing cubicles and showers. This section was converted in the early eighties into a toddler pool. The basement contains in the left part a boiler room with three boilers and a boiler room with three boilers; in the right part a boiler room with two boilers (all boilers later renewed). Both staff dwellings stand with a long facade on the street. They comprise a basement and one storey and carry a hipped roof covered with tiles between gable ends with roll courses. In the hipped roof on the front and rear side a wooden roof dormer under a small hipped roof. Both dwellings have on the corner facing the entrance wing an entrance loggia accessible via a staircase with masonry corner pillar. The dwelling at Spionkopstraat 11 has retained the authentic front door. The windows have timber cross windows. The gardens of both houses are enclosed by masonry garden walls with concrete capping. The bathhouse and both staff dwellings are of importance from an architectural-historical, socio-historical and urban planning point of view. The complex has architectural-historical value as an example of the sober expressionist style with influences from both the Nieuwe Haagse School and Berlage, which in the nineteen-twenties was frequently applied to public buildings in The Hague. It has socio-historical value from the perspective of the history of public health care. As the only well-preserved bathhouse of the thirteen that were in use in The Hague around 1925, built with financial support from the municipality for the benefit of the working class and operated by the association "Volksbad", it furthermore has an important typological and rarity value. Structure, exterior and a large part of the internal character and material treatment are intact. The complex derives its urban planning significance from its location in a building block which, originally further surrounded by schools, was designed as such when the district was laid out, with the central bathhouse situated in the axis of Rondebosstraat.