Pharmaceutisch Laboratorium

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

Designed by State Architect Jacobus van Lokhorst for Leiden State University and executed in 1896-1898, former Laboratory for Organic Chemistry in a mixed Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance building style.

The building, originally erected on a U-shaped ground plan, was provided with, among other things, a laboratory for physicians, a laboratory for chemists, a lecture hall and an official residence. In 1910 the laboratory was doubled according to a design by Van Lokhorst's successor ir. J.A. Vrijman, who placed a comparable building mirror-image against the old one, whereby it acquired a completely enclosed inner courtyard. A second major extension - in the form of an addition to the rear - dates from 1930. In 1949 an extension was added to the right (north side) of the Organic Chemical Laboratory. The complex was in use in 1996 by the Faculty of Law (Faculty of Legal Studies) of Leiden State University.

Description

Building created in phases, standing around an open courtyard, erected in red facing brick with accents of yellow facing brick, sandstone and grey hardstone, with above a large basement several storeys under hipped, gabled, and half-hipped roofs covered with slate (Maas covering) with roof dormers. The roof angles of the roof dormers and the cross gables are accentuated with iron cresting and zinc finials. The facades are provided with decoratively executed wrought-iron wall anchors.

Broad front facade divided by means of pilaster strips with closed and slightly arched windows in the basement and sills running across the entire facade width that function as a string course. Clinker transom of brick with hardstone top edge. Roughcast, moulded facade edges with natural stone gutter stones.

The oldest, northern part of the building consists of a left section five bays wide and a broad risalit with round staircase tower. The basement windows of this nineteenth-century section are coupled in pairs or threes and stand under hardstone lintels and brick relieving arches. The slightly projecting left bay stands under a steep-pitched roof with half-hipped end. The windows in this part of the facade are cross windows with moulded brick mullions, sandstone alternating sills and reveals with quarter-round profile. They stand under relieving and spanning arches of yellow brick. The composite windows in the facade section between the left bay and the corner risalit are likewise provided with sandstone sills and brick mullions. The windows on the principal floor are nine-pane; they have two alternating sills and stand under segmental relieving and spanning arches. The windows on the storey above are provided with one alternating sill. The four roof dormers in the associated roof slope are provided with half-hipped roofs, cross windows, slate-clad cheeks and projecting wind braces.

The risalit stands under a cross gable, has on the principal floor and on the storey above two composite, closed windows with moulded brick mullion under relieving and spanning arch and is provided with natural stone alternating sills. The windows in the gable top are similar, but lower in elevation. The right windows stand between pilaster strips, of which the setting standing on corbels with sculpted heads is located at the height of the principal floor windows. The gable top is a truncated pointed gable, originally provided with pinnacles. In the gable top stands a closed window opening with opening loft shutters under a two-pane fanlight filled with leaded glass and a wooden hood resting on corbels (wind hood) with hoisting beam. The round corner tower has an octagonal upper division with one narrow window per bay and likewise an octagonal roof spire covered with slate with weather vane on the iron cresting.

In the tower shaft stand narrow staircase windows likewise filled with leaded glass under hardstone lintel.

The north side of the building also forms part of the original design.

To the right of the corner tower a bay - set back in relation to the rest of the facade - with in each of the three storeys a composite window, comparable to those in the front facade. Corner risalits with moulded cornice lines on shoulders with moulded corbels and half-hipped ends to the cross gables. Roughcast, moulded facade edges at the gable tops. Windows comparable to those in the front facade.

Upper facade division with trefoil moulding and a loft window hung with a shutter. The broad, set-back facade section is seven bays wide and has alternately a bay with gutter line and a higher-rising bay with a closed loft window under a steep-pitched roof with half-hipped end. The original main entrance with double panel door with fanlight stands under a blind facade panel. The three-pane fanlight is filled with leaded glass and stands under a natural stone basket-arch with trefoil resting on a moulded lintel. The rear (west side) of the building is located on the Gerrit Doustraat. The left section forms part of the building's original design. The remainder belongs to the 1910 extension. The lower-rising, older left building section (with former official residence) has one storey, cross windows and detailing comparable to that of the north facade. The former official residence standing at the north-west corner of the building has a conservatory with wooden balustrade and lean-to roof and stands under a truncated hipped roof with one small roof dormer in each roof slope. To the left of the conservatory the entrance with door with fanlight above a quarter hardstone entrance stair with wrought-iron stair rail and entrance gate. The higher-rising risalits to the right of the residence have a cross gable with moulded cornice lines on shoulders with corbels and, like the rest of the older section of the building running through to the central risalit, closed basement windows under hardstone lintels. The basement windows in the 1910 extension stand under lintels. The lower windows and the storey above are arched. The series of three cross gables is provided with slate-covered half-hipped roofs with roof valleys, finial cresting and shutters in the gable tops. Part of the windows are provided with renewed, white-painted wooden frames. The larger windows are closed under segmental relieving arches. The rainpipes have five-sided zinc collecting trays. Parallel with the street runs an enclosure fence dating from 1910 with an iron fence standing on a base of hardstone. The south facade - which also forms part of the 1910 extension - has an almost symmetrical composition and is broadly comparable to the north facade. The closed basement windows stand under lintels and have hardstone sills. The entrance is a round-arch panel casement door standing above a (renewed) balustrade stair, with high-placed quarter-round door windows with cast-iron frame decorations. The double door stands within a heavy natural stone surround with half-round moulding. Above the door a natural stone two-light window with basket-arch. The closed windows on the principal floor and the storey above are identical and stand under relieving arches. On the facade ornamental wall anchors are attached above the pilasters. The seven bays are alternately terminated by a roughcast gutter line and a steep-pitched roof with half-hipped end. The risalits stand under half-hipped roofs and have a closed shutter under lintel in the gable top. The access to the basement to the left of the main entrance is located in an addition with flat roof, containing a single and a double door standing under lintel with decorative frame ironwork for the two-pane door window.

The south-east corner is marked by a round corner tower. This staircase tower is provided with narrow windows filled with leaded glass under lintel and is articulated by string courses drawn through from the sills of the facade windows. The tower is crowned by a concave arched tower helm with "Zwiebeldach" with iron cresting and slate (Rhine covering) roof covering. The facade between the corner tower and the older facade section is articulated vertically by pilaster strips and horizontally by thin sandstone string courses, which are a continuation of the lowest window sills. The facade consists from left to right of a set-back bay with closed windows under relieving arches and is terminated by a brick attic balustrade with natural stone coping. The higher-rising risalit stands under a cross gable with half-hipped end. The six bays to the right here are identical. They have per window axis above the transom filled with closed basement windows respectively an arched window, a low, closed window with moulded top sill and a composite window - likewise with moulded top sill as the windows in the south facade. The moulded, roughcast facade line with natural stone blocks supports the wooden gutter comiced around the pilaster strips. The six small roof dormers in the associated roof slope contain cross windows and have slate-clad cheeks and projecting, likewise slate-covered roofs. The facades overlooking the inner courtyard are characterised by detailing and material use comparable to that of the associated facades on the street side. The almost symmetrical facade of the north wing has a central risalit (staircase hall) under a half-hipped roof. On the ground floor a non-original closed door with fanlight with to the right a small window. On the first and second storey a large window with depressed pointed arch, brick tracery and leaded glass. In the gable top with projecting shoulders a pointed arch spandrel with two window openings placed one above the other with shutter. On either side of the risalit a slightly higher-rising risalit with steep-pitched roof. The facade of the west wing has on the right in the corner a so-called escape tower with tapered roof covered with slate. The higher-rising bays stand under cross gables which, like the closed windows, are comparable to those on the street side (Gerrit Doustraat).

The facade of the east wing contains pilaster strips and an arched fanlight above the entrance. The interior contains among other things the original representative staircase hall, built partly in natural stone, with ribs on the arch vaults, pointed arch openings, stair rails with trefoil balusters and the text "ANNO 1897" in one of the staircase windows filled with colourful leaded glass.

Valuation

The former Organic Chemical Laboratory is of general importance due to cultural and scientific-historical value as a distinctive expression of the rise of experimental sciences and the historical bond between the university and the city of Leiden. The laboratory is of general importance due to architectural-historical value as a characteristic example from the oeuvre of J. van Lokhorst in his characteristic mixed form of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance style. The building also has ensemble value as an essential component of a complex of university buildings with stylistic, historical-functional urban planning coherence. The building is also of importance because of the integrity and recognisability of the exterior and parts of the interior, with regard to material use and detailing.