Kerk en kerkonderdeel, Hoefstraat 199

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

The R.K. ANTONIUS VAN PADUAKERK was built in 1911-1913 after a design by the architectural firm Margry from Rotterdam. Architect A.A.J. Margry was probably responsible for the design. It is one of the Antoniuskerken that Margry built on commission of the Rotterdam shipping magnate Grewen and which were therefore named after the patron saint of this benefactor. Stylistically the church forms a transition between the Neoromanesque and Neobyzantine. The large building is situated on an oval square onto which various streets lead. The appearance of the surroundings is determined by mostly relatively low, simply designed buildings, which makes the church an extra prominent accent.

Description

The three-aisled cruciform church has a tower with entrance on the northeast, flanked by round stair turrets. The nave has six bays with a round dome at the crossing, to which are adjoined a transept and choir of one bay and a semicircular closed apse with likewise a round stair turret on either side. The facades are built of machine-made brick with round-arched friezes and ornamental tilework, under gabled and sloping roofs with slate in Maas bond. Hardstone is used at the plinth, the offsets at the buttresses and the bevelled lintels.

The tower facade has centrally a double entrance portal under a round arch with brick tracery. The double oak doors are provided with ornamental ironwork. Above both doors a tile tableau. Above this a broad, four-part round-arched window with natural stone tracery. All windows are provided with stained glass. On either side of this a turret that transitions from an octagon to a circle, with beneath the round tower roof with zinc ball finial a series of narrow round-arched windows. In the main tower is located at this point a triplet opening. The main tower rises above two annexes under transversely placed gabled roof, provided with pilasters and small round-arched windows. Above this the tower has three-part sound openings, placed one above the other at the front. The round clock faces are placed on each side in a round-arched niche. Above each clock face an in- and outswung bell gable with cross is laid up. Above this rises the eight-sided tower spire with openwork bell turret on which finally a spire is placed.

The nave with side aisles has at the height of the tower bay on either side a side chapel under hipped roof with ball finial. Above this a rose window. The other bays have in side aisle and clerestory round-arched windows with brick tracery. Beneath the gutters are round-arched friezes and ornamental mouldings with terracotta tilework. In the roof plane round-arched windows with two-part glazing bars are placed. The right-closed transept has round-arched windows. In the end gables this is a climbing series with in the middle window a wheel window with natural stone tracery. The top gable is finished with yellow and white tiles between which a climbing series of slit windows. The crossing has a low round tower in the form of pavilion-like structure with zinc ball finial. The tower is lit by rose windows with small glazing bars. These are of white painted wood as are the carved little pillars and the broad dentil moulding. The apse has slender tall round-arched windows with a blind frieze and ornamental brickwork beneath the gutter.

Internally the church has a three-part elevation. Above the round arched braces is a round-arched frieze which together with the windows above is combined in a niche. In the tower section is a broad round arch above which the organ gallery. The arches rest on square pillars. The barrel vaults consist of a thin layer of cement with reinforcement. In the side aisles these are placed transversely. Above the crossing is a pendentive dome with fanlight. The interior has alternating wall surfaces of fair brickwork with ornamental bands and plastered painted fields. Most of the paintings were made from 1925 by H. Sensen from Kevelaer. In the shell of the apse depictions of the Throne of Mercy, John glorifying the Lamb, John on Patmos and John the Baptist. Above the triumphal arch are among others saints depicted who venerate the Lamb. Furthermore there are from the first period many non-figurative paintings with stylized floral patterns. The paintings in the dome date from 1939 with among others Antonius of Padua and Elizabeth of Thuringia. The paintings of Kees Mandos on the organ wall were applied in 1950.

The building itself also includes the stained-glass windows, including the windows made in 1913 by E. Löhrer for the Maria chapel, choir and at the Maria and Joseph altars. E. Mengelberg supplied in 1920 a window for the baptismal chapel. The church furnishings further include the high altar from 1913 and the altars of St. Anna (1919) and St. Joseph (1925). These natural stone altars were supplied by the workshop of J.P. Maas and Sons from Haarlem. The Stations of the Cross date from 1939-1942 and were made from opaline glass by Ninaber van Eyben. On the nave pillars are pedestals and baldachins with various saint figures. The pulpit was supplied in 1953. Mechanical tower clock, now out of service.

Appreciation

The Roman Catholic Sint Antonius van Paduakerk built in 1911-1913 to a design by the architectural firm Margry from Rotterdam (probably A.A.J. Margry) is of general importance because of:

- cultural history, because of the history of origin: in a new urban development a church was 'automatically' realized, which had an essential influence on the socio-geographical and urban planning situation; furthermore the financing of the construction by the Rotterdam shipowner Grewen, who made it a condition that the church be named after his patron saint; because of these two points the church is an exemplary and clearly recognizable example of a regionally determined socio-historical development;

- architectural history, because of the building type three-aisled cruciform church with pavilion-like structure above the crossing and a front tower with two stair turrets; the coherence between interior and exterior; use of materials and ornamentation (tile tableaus, brick detailing, plasterwork etc.) and the architectural style with Neobyzantine and Neoromanesque motifs; furnishings (altars, Stations of the Cross etc.); the design qualities of the building as a whole, both internally and externally, because of the balanced mass effect and refined detailing; the place in the oeuvre of the architectural firm Margry, of which it is a representative, but because of the above also an important component;

- ensemble values, because of the urban planning coherence with the Hoefstraat, widened at this location into a square and the coherence with the adjacent presbytery; the church (tower) is moreover distinctive in the silhouette of Tilburg;

- integrity of interior and exterior, furnishings and urban planning coherence;

- the solutions already rare nationally at the time of construction of the crossing structure on the one hand and tower with stair turrets on the other.