Schoolgebouw, Heselbergherweg 13

English translation

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Description

Introduction

SCHOOL BUILDING for Extended Primary Education (ULO) from 1932. The detached school is located on the southwestern corner of the Heselbergherweg and the Braamweg and presents a broad frontage to the Heselbergherweg. Because the uneven terrain rises steeply in a northerly direction, a platform was created on which the school was placed. From the Heselbergherweg, a brick staircase with two flights (incline) leads to the main entrance. The access is closed off by a wrought-iron double revolving gate with geometric patterns. The schoolyard at the rear lies at the same level as the Braamweg. At a lower level directly south of the school, the "Van Löben Selsschool" is located on the Dalweg. The school building is strongly influenced by the architecture of architect W.M. Dudok, particularly his schools in Hilversum from the interwar period. Characteristic is the free grouping of the building blocks, all with hipped roofs, in the form of two L-shaped wings (north and west wing) with between them a semi-circular stairwell as a hinge. The building blocks increase in height in the direction of the stairwell. Both wings embrace a schoolyard at the rear. The functional layout of the school building consists of a main entrance, foyer and stairwell at the hinge point; classrooms and a flanking corridor in both wings; a gymnasium and a handicraft room as separate building blocks set at right angles against these wings. The school was built at the commission of the municipality of Arnhem and designed by J. van Biesen of the Department of Public Works. The opening took place on 1 September 1932.

Description

SCHOOL BUILDING of two storeys and an attic on a complex ground plan (two L-shapes). The facades are constructed in yellow brick and laid in Norwegian bond with recessed mortar joints. The plinth is executed as a scored brick roll course in brown brick. The wall openings are fitted with steel frames, windows and doors. The drip mouldings are of granite. All building blocks are covered with hipped roofs with the exception of the stairwell and a flanking room which have flat roofs. The roofs are laid with red Romanesque tiles and have a substantial overhang.

At the HINGE POINT between the two wings, a risalit rises above the roof gutter on the north wing. The risalit has on the first storey an internal porch which is closed off by a concrete lintel. The porch possesses a double wooden door between walls slanting inward. The walls are rounded at the front and each possess a six-pane window. Above the entrance section is a strip of five coupled single-pane casement windows. Above this closes a tall rectangular window, the division of which consists of two mullions and three multi-pane windows.

The hinge point has adjoining the west wing a flat-roofed stairwell with a flanking tall chimney. In the rounded southern side of the stairwell are three two-pane windows on the first storey and three tall multi-pane windows above. Against the facade is an iron flagpole holder placed on a natural stone block.

Between the stairwell and the entrance risalit is a single-storey building volume with a large rectangular multi-pane window. Above this rises a glass corner bay with a balcony below a concrete canopy.

The rear facade of the entrance risalit has above the non-original porter's room a vertical multi-pane window strip that extends to the roof overhang.

The two-storey NORTH and WEST WING have front facades of thirty and fifteen window axes respectively. Per classroom there are five coupled six-pane windows which are separated from each other by brick walls. The windows each have an alternating casement window at the lower level. The rear facades of the north and west wing possess a slightly projecting central section of eighteen and thirteen window axes respectively, with at either side a facade section of five and three window axes respectively. The windows are situated between continuous lintels and drip mouldings and are fitted with two-pane windows. The north wing also has in the middle a double glass door. The GYMNASIUM with a basement storey is set at right angles against the north wing and is covered by a low continuous hipped roof. The south facade possesses four double glass doors and above a strip of fifteen sealed two-pane windows. The east facade on the Heselbergherweg has in the basement storey (brown brick) a porch with a double door between four four-pane windows. The north facade on the Braamweg has in the basement storey fifteen four-pane windows, and on the first storey fifteen recessed two-pane windows. In the cut-out right-hand corner is a double glass door and two two-pane windows. The west facade on the schoolyard has an extension with a lean-to roof with under the roof overhang a window strip with sealed windows. Between the gymnasium and the north wing is an intermediate section under a lean-to hipped roof containing a double glass door.

The building section with HANDICRAFT ROOM and originally physics and drawing room, is set at right angles against the west wing. The second storey (assembly hall) was added later. The east facade possesses five coupled windows with six-pane panes, a door and two four-pane windows. The south facade has one six-pane window. The west facade has in the location of the first and second classroom each six coupled windows with six-pane panes, a double glass door, and in the location of the third classroom five coupled windows with six-pane panes. The classroom windows have a casement window at the lower level and a hopper window at the upper level. The school possesses a number of valuable INTERIOR COMPONENTS, such as a draught lobby with a commemorative stone (inscription: "In memory of P.L.A. Janssen who as head of the school was the driving force in the establishment of this building"); a foyer, stairwell and corridors with black/white tiled floor in geometric patterns, wainscotting of glazed Frisian tiles (yellow), hanging lamps in the form of water drops, a staircase with two flights, granite steps and chrome tubular handrail; in the foyer on the upper floor two quarter-round fountain basins and a brick socle on which originally an aquarium stood; in the corridor next to the handicraft rooms built-in display cases with six glass doors.

Valuation

SCHOOL BUILDING from 1932.

- Of architectural-historical value as a good example in interior and exterior of a school building in the Dudok manner: free grouping of building blocks with hipped roofs that increase in height in the direction of a semi-circular stairwell, facades of yellow brick in Norwegian bond with recessed mortar joints, horizontal window strips. The object stands out for high aesthetic qualities, such as the varied use of materials: glazed brick wainscottings, natural stone stairs and claddings, steel windows and doors.

The school building is a good example of the work of J. van Biesen (Department of Public Works Arnhem), and forms part of a series of architecturally high-quality public schools from the first half of the twentieth century in Arnhem.

- Of urban planning value because of the striking location on a glacial ridge slope at a level higher than the "Van Löben Selsschool" on the Dalweg, whereby the school plays an image-determining role in the surroundings and conversely offers a wide view in a southerly direction over Arnhem.

- Of cultural-historical value because of its purpose and appearance, which in general terms are connected with the development of education in Arnhem and more particularly as an expression of the new functional and typological development in school architecture as it took shape following the Education Act of 1920.