Woonhuis, Oostergrachtswal 41

English translation

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Description

Introduction

Forenoon, broad mansion designed in 1879 possibly according to a design by Hendrik Kramer in Eclecticism, institutionally used for decades and previously partly rebuilt and broken through with the properties 37 to 47.

The Grachtswal, only separated into the Zuidergrachtswal and Oostergrachtswal after the opening of the Nieuwe Kanaal in 1895, has for centuries had a highly varied, mostly continuous built environment, consisting mainly of country houses of the wealthy. Map material shows an alternation at that wall of large plots with substantial buildings and extensive gardens. This is evident from the minutely drawn town plan that Johann Hermann Knoop drew around 1760. One of the most remarkable buildings was the Marcelis Goverts Gasthuis, founded in 1658, consisting of a front house with gate and rooms around a courtyard behind. The gasthuis was sold after the new construction at the Noordersingel in 1877 together with three adjoining dwelling houses. Parts of the gasthuis stood for a long time behind the built environment, where no trace of it can now be found. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the housing density of the Grachtswal and surroundings had so increased that the city administration brought a small ferry into the water channel just south of the gasthuis in 1849 for access to the area, the first of seven ferries that would maintain a connection over the city canal. Moreover, in the same year 1849 the exercise field located behind the built environment was moved to land at the Kalverdijkje, because shooting practice had begun to pose a danger to the residents. The wooden wall lining of the quay was replaced by a stone quay wall in 1859 and the quay was soon paved. In contrast to the Zuidergrachtswal which still has some older buildings, the Oostergrachtswal with buildings from the last quarter of the previous century appears to have been developed only after the dismantling of the city defences. In this period, after the renewal of the quay, the built environment has indeed been completely changed in age through renewal and new construction, but the new houses remained mostly mansions.

Until the renewal of Oostergrachtswal 41, two properties stood on this site. In the northern one lived commission agent Pruis with his wife and in the other building engineer and architect Jacobus Petrus de Rooy. The client for the construction was the wealthy merchant Gajus Hajonides van der Meulen who moved in with his family and household staff in 1880. This family came from a couple of houses further down, from number 37. The Van der Meulens remained living there until 1915, after which it acquired an institutional function: it became 'office of registration and domains'. In the following years household staff still lived there, a clerk or a caretaker. The mansion subsequently retained an office function. In the last few decades the provincial planning service, Wellstand Advisory Commission HUS & HIEM, the Thorbecke Academy of the Noordelijke Hogeschool and finally Waterschap Friesland were located in the building.

Description

EXTERIOR: Mansion on an approximately rectangular floor plan five window bays wide and two full storeys high under a truncated hipped roof. The broad building stands in a closed facade wall and is, like number 47, individualized in it by a framing of vertical and horizontal moulding in natural stone. This moulding has given the building a certain severity which is relativized again by some decorative enrichments. After a natural stone plinth and breastwork with recessed fields and profiled edging of a transom band, follows raised brickwork of purplish-brown brick. The breastwork of the upper storey is also clad with a broad band of natural stone, again provided with recessed fields with thin leaf relief and a profiled transom band. The facade is terminated by a plastered cornice with rectangular recessed panels decorated with curling acanthus leaves, with deeper relief in the central bay, a profiled dentil and cyma moulding and a profiled roof gutter. Vertically, the facade across both storeys is articulated at the corners and to emphasize the central section by natural stone pilasters with undecorated recessed fields. Above the pilasters paired consoles are placed against the cornice under the gutter line. The facade now has large, square-headed, undivided sash windows, covered by half-timbered roof gables. In the central bay the profiled-moulded entrance section with hardstone steps of two treads, entrance vestibule provided with ornamental plaster on walls and ceiling and a double, sculpted door provided with original hinges and fastening with arched-headed fanlight. Above the entrance on the upper storey a balcony is installed, resting on richly formed Neo-Renaissance consoles and provided with an elegant wrought-iron railing. Behind the balcony stands a set of double doors with large glass panels and fanlight in the upper storey. Above this central section stands on the front slope a simple roof dormer, arched-headed with doubly profiled mouldings. On the front slope and front portions of the side slopes of the roof lie blue glazed Lucas IJsbrand tiles; otherwise pantiles. The rear facade, of which the northern portion is obscured from view by a recent extension, is built in greyish-brown brick. On the ground floor doors stand in the middle and the two southern bays; the other two bays no longer original. Both doors and windows on the upper storey are arched-headed. The central section is demarcated on both sides by pilaster-form brickwork; in the recessed fields small crosses of yellow stone. In the rear facade a foundation stone with: 'On the 16th June 1879 the first stone of this building was laid by Nollius Hajonides van der Meulen aged 3 years and 3 months'

INTERIOR: Behind the entrance vestibule entrance is a vestibule with white marble floor, double draught doors with fanlight and on walls and ceiling richly decorated plasterwork with cove, moulding and central ornament. In the hallway which does not continue to the garden, similar decoration is present. Doors with multiple profiled mouldings and corner ornaments in the form of acanthus leaves. The door to the southern salon has been moved. On the north side a basket-arched doorway - most likely originally the opening to a stair access - which now leads to the adjacent new building, formed by pilaster-form pilasters with block-shaped acanthus capitals and an arch provided with coffered panels with rosettes. The northern front salon possesses original window furnishings, a black marble fireplace in flowing forms and mantelpiece with Corinthian corner columns and high-bordered decorative work crowning. Extraordinarily rich, even restless stucco ceiling with cove, manifold moulding and pastework decorated with leaves, flowers and fruits. The comparison with properties by Kramer from which it is known that he employed Belgian plasterers suggests itself here. The southern front salon is more modernized, but still possesses a (albeit less rich) stucco ceiling. From both salons the moulded panel doors are still original. The remaining rooms provided with suspended ceilings. The original staircase has disappeared; the salons on the upper storey can be reached via stairs in the adjacent properties. On the upper storey most rooms have suspended ceilings. The front salon at the front still has an original stucco ceiling and a decorative black marble fireplace. The attic has been completely rebuilt and panelled for the office function. In 1971 the adjacent property number 39 was entirely renewed and greatly extended to the rear, with the rear wing partly standing behind this mansion.

VALUATION

Mansion of general cultural-historical and architectural-historical importance

- on account of its especially outwardly well-preserved stylistic purity in Eclectic style;

- on account of exceptional, original interior components, in particular the well-preserved interior of the northern main salon;

- on account of the distinctive place of the building in the history of the canal-ring development;

- on account of its urban planning location as one of the important elements in the closed canal-side building environment.