Generaal de Bons Kazerne

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 KITCHEN BUILDING with CENTRAL C.V-ROOM, BATHHOUSE AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS' DINING HALL dates from 1939 and closes off the parade ground on the southern side. The design of this building in Expressionistic style presented both technical and architectural problems of the greatest magnitude. Around 1960 the dining hall was enlarged in a northerly direction; this extension falls outside the protection. The kitchen and also the boiler room have been renovated several times. Nowadays the building houses, in addition to the boiler room and the kitchen, the enlisted men's and non-commissioned officers' dining hall and the instructional film room.

Description

The single- and one-and-a-half-storey building, which has a cruciform floor plan and whose exterior is dominated by two striking brick chimneys, consists of three components: the shower installation, the kitchen with adjoining dining hall and the boiler room. The latter has a rectangular floor plan and is located in the extension of the parade ground. In part of the cellar a storage cellar is housed. The construction (also called the 'bunker') consists of reinforced concrete columns supporting a likewise concrete floor. Above the northern part of the cellar is situated the kitchen. In the one-and-a-half-brick brick facades nearly all original iron windows have been preserved. The composite hipped roofs of the complex are covered with improved Dutch tiles. The side wings on the eastern and western sides originally served the function of shower installation. These single-storey, rectangular buildings likewise have one-and-a-half-brick facades with high-placed iron, rectangular lights. The western wing has since been converted into a film hall, but the eastern one still has its original fittings. Under the open wooden roof structure (with a simple tie-truss), in which halfway up the roof plane a continuous series of lights has been installed, are to be seen in rows of approximately ten each some thirty original shower cabins. These consist of a shower room and a changing vestibule. Next to the northern entrance there is a second door in the eastern facade, which provides access to a separate shower room with approximately ten cabins, as well as, as evidenced by the remaining mixing taps, two bathrooms. The entire space still has the authentic c.v.-radiators.

Valuation

The kitchen building of the barracks is of general importance. It has cultural-historical importance as an example of an administrative and strategic development, namely the establishment of a barracks as part of the Peel-Raam Position, an important component of national defence, and as an example of the typological development of barracks in the interwar period. From an architectural-historical perspective it is important because of the style applied by the engineer corps offices and because of the material used. The whole is important because of its location, connected with the strategic development of the ancient fortified city of Grave. It is important because of the integrity of interior and exterior.