Woonhuis, Pontanuslaan 34

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

Description

Detached block of four MIDDLE-CLASS DWELLINGS situated on the building line on the southwestern corner of Pontanuslaan and St. Nicolailaan. The partially cellaried dwellings consist of two storeys and an attic on a rectangular ground plan.

The continuous hipped roof has gabled roofs attached at the location of four gable ends at the front, and two gable ends at the short sides. At the rear of this steep roof a shallow flat roof adjoins. The roof overhang and gutters rest on corbels. The gable ends are finished with wind braces. The roof is covered with red traditional Dutch tiles. Several tall chimneys are placed in the roof.

The red brick facades are laid in English bond. The second storey is built in a lighter stone than the first storey. The trash frame is, like all wall openings, closed off by a roller shutter. The majority of the recessed rectangular wall openings are provided with two-light sash window frames with sliding lower and upper frames (originally glazing bars in the upper frames, now mostly transparent leaded glass); paired casement windows (originally six-pane); panel front doors with small window, wrought-iron grille and (originally rear-pane) fanlight. The front doors are grouped in pairs, including two w.c. drop windows, under a wooden canopy hung from twisted iron tension rods. The gutter line on the street side is interrupted four times by a gable end, provided with simple timber framing and a recessed small cross with mouse-tooth pattern.

At the rear each dwelling has on the first storey a kitchen door and double garden door, both with fanlight. On the second storey there are respectively a rectangular window with two-light sash window frame (sliding lower and upper frame) and double balcony door with fanlight. The concrete balcony extends across the full width. The brick partition walls between the dwellings are connected with chimneys that are built out halfway up the first storey.

The SPATIAL STRUCTURE of the two-aisle dwellings consists in the original form of: a small vestibule and adjoining toilet (both with pink/red terrazzo floors), corridor with stairwell (carved stair rail and balusters, panel doors with four panes at the top), kitchen (corner fireplace) and cellar in the narrow aisle; interconnected rooms (sliding doors, tiled chimney surrounds, stucco ceiling with simply moulded cornices and central rose) and bedrooms with a staircase transversely between them leading to the attic in the wide aisle. The aforementioned interior elements are no longer completely intact in all dwellings.

Valuation

Block of four MIDDLE-CLASS DWELLINGS from ca. 1915.

- Of architectural-historical value as a good and relatively intact example of a block of middle-class dwellings with housing architecture characteristic of the first quarter of the twentieth century with a traditional main design and influences of the English country house style: good proportions and main form, restrained ornamentation, good use of materials and careful detailing. As such the complex is a good example of the work of the architectural firm J.H. DE ROOS (1875-1942) and W.F. OVEREYNDER (1875-1941) and of significance for the oeuvre.

- Of urban-planning value as an essential part of a slightly curved row of residential blocks that screens the middle-class district Sonsbeekkwartier-Noord from the speculative building dating from ca. 1900 in Sonsbeekkwartier-Zuid.

- Of cultural-historical value as an early example of a block of middle-class dwellings, built on commission of a housing association specially established for this purpose.