Kantoorwoning, Franciscus Romanusweg 44

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

RESIDENCE WITH OFFICE SPACE in business expressionistic style, 1924.

Built on commission of the Cooperative Building Association 'Ons Belang' in Maastricht, for the benefit of contractor J.Mesters-Philippens, to a design by architect A.J.N. Boosten. The rear facade of the property was realised in deviation from the building plans. The wooden garden house and the front facade sun awning as well as the roller shutters are excluded from protection.

Description

RESIDENCE on rectangular floor plan with rear facade extensions.

Double basement on marl walls, three storeys, attic and mezzanine floor. The whole is covered by a gabled roof with Tuiles du Nord. Gutter canopies, roof dormer on the rear roof surface. Rear facade extensions of varying heights of two and one storey under flat roof.

Asymmetrically arranged front facade, whose verticality is interrupted by the wooden canopies, flower boxes and gutters. Dark brown nuanced, profiled brick plinth with ashlar string course. Yellow nuanced brick elevation, laid in Flemish bond. Cut joints. On the first and second storey a triangular bay window, on the first storey fitted with rectangular wooden cross windows with leaded glass fanlight, on the second storey with rectangular wooden windows with six-pane glazing. To the left of this bay window two chimneys rising through the gutter, profiled and set on concrete consoles. To the right of the bay window the porch with recessed rectangular wooden panelled door with wrought-iron grille including ball ornaments for the glass panel, a projecting leaded glass fanlight between two wooden canopies, the first of which is supported on a wooden column. Facade stone with inscription "J.Mesters-Philippens Aannemer" in porch. Above it a rectangular, vertically divided window under a wooden canopy. Placed high under the gutter canopy a window row with rectangular wooden windows, wooden flower box, ornamental masonry and profiled masonry in the wall piers between the windows. Brick courses.

Rear facade in greyish-brown brick. Extended conservatory of one storey under flat roof, with rectangular double wooden terrace doors fitted with fanlights and side lights with small glazing bars. Above this on the second storey a rectangular, doubly vertically articulated window frame with six-pane glazing bars per glass panel.

Under the continuous flat roof of the conservatory the kitchen window, in which rectangular wooden windows and doors with leaded glass fanlight.

Above the kitchen an extension of varying height under flat roof, in which the office of contractor Mesters was housed. In it a rectangular wooden balcony door with side and fanlights, fitted with small glazing bars.

The back garden is surrounded by a brick garden wall with buttresses.

In the largely well-preserved INTERIOR are among other things of importance the wooden sliding doors with figurative leaded glass in the living room, the living room parquet (laid only where visible), the fireplace mantelpiece with tiling, the wooden fireplace mantel which forms a whole with wainscoting and wall furniture, the hallway wainscoting, the stairwell with balustrade (including ball ornaments and gold-black painted profile edges), the hallway lamp, the kitchen in completely authentic condition with greyish-blue kitchen furniture, the yellow tile wainscoting of the fireplace, various wooden fireplace mantels on the upper floor, the tiled fireplace of the former office. In the mansard room there is a wooden wardrobe specially designed for it on decorative blocks, in greyish-blue colour.

Valuation

The property is of cultural-historical value as a distinctive expression of a typological development. The architectural-historical values are determined by the business expressionistic building style, the involvement of architect A.J.N. Boosten, the aesthetic qualities and ornamentation. The property is situated in the very important urban expansion on the eastern Meuse bank from the first half of the twentieth century, is as such connected with the development of the city and is of significance for the appearance of the neighbourhood. The property is of importance because of the architectural integrity of both exterior and interior and of importance in relation to the structural and visual integrity of the built environment. Moreover, the property possesses a reasonable architectural-historical and typological rarity.