Kerk, Peperstraat 20

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 CHURCH BUILDING built in 1897 on the commission of Gouda merchant in manufactures Pieter de Raadt is intended as a meeting room for the 'Congregation of Believers'. The front facade, designed in Eclectic style, displays Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Romanesque influences. The rear facade is predominantly inspired by Neo-Renaissance.

The religious gatherings in the room are based on Matthew 18 verse 20, the text of which reads: 'For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them'. During the gatherings there is no fixed minister. Every male believer may speak. In 1919, after the death of De Raadt, his widow sold the religious building to the 'Association for the establishment and maintenance of premises for Christian gatherings and for the promotion of Bible and Scripture distribution'. In 1998 transferred to ownership of the 'Association for material and financial support of Christian Purposes (VCD)' in Gouda. The building is still in use as a meeting room.

The church building, located within the protected townscape, forms part of the continuous development on Peperstraat. Characteristic is that Peperstraat is only built on one side, with the rear gardens of the houses on Westhaven directly adjoining the canal of Peperstraat. This layout is typical of the oldest expansion of the city at the end of the 13th century.

N.B. During a renovation in the nineteen-nineties the draught vestibule was enlarged within the existing church space on the entrance side. The balcony was thereby widened and the originally centrally placed door was removed. Instead, two doors were placed on either side of the building.

A single-storey extension against the rear facade from 1930, as well as the fire escape on the rear facade fall outside the protection.

Description

Two-storey building on an almost rectangular floor plan, covered by a gabled roof with suppressed Dutch tiles. The front facade, constructed of grey brick with fine mortar joints, is a symmetrically arranged spout gable with plastered, white-painted corner strips on either side with imitation rustication blocks. The facade is terminated below the moulded cornice by a climbing arch frieze, the arches with white-plastered setting and closing stones resting on rectangular consoles decorated with diamond-shaped heads. The gable is accentuated by a carved rectangular chimney. White-painted plasterwork is further applied to the setting and closing stones with scored decorations in the round arches above the door and window openings and above the spandrels. The edges of spandrels, door and window openings are executed with beading of moulded stones. The high plinth on either side of a round-arched entrance vestibule, terminated by a moulded drip moulding and painted grey with plasterwork, is executed as imitation rustication blocks, with faceted blocklets on either side as basement of the strips. A central risalit running through to the first-floor window accentuates the round-arched entrance vestibule, which is accessible via two ashlar steps. The vestibule, fitted with a granite floor, is flanked by fluted half-columns with composite capitals, placed on a five-sided basement. The relieving arch enclosed by a moulded strip has chevron and Tudor arch-shaped ornamental blocks. The vestibule is closed off on the street side by ironwork with wrought-iron spokes and cast-iron spear points, which hangs from cast-iron octagonal gate posts. Above the double wooden panelled door is a round-arched fanlight with radial glazing bars. On both sides of the partly tiled vestibule is a panelled door. Above the entrance vestibule is a rectangular cartouche with scrollwork, inscribed with the year '1897' in gilded numerals.

On either side of the entrance vestibule is a round-arched window with cast-iron glazing bars. The water-course sill runs as a drip moulding across the facade.

The ground floor and first floor are separated from each other by two moulded drip mouldings, with recessed rectangular spandrels between them. The upper drip moulding also serves as the sill of the window section in the central risalit and the flanking round-arched spandrels. The frame of the window section consists of plastered pilasters with faceted rectangular fields, on which a round-arched relieving arch rests, similar to that of the entrance vestibule. The arch fill consists of decorative brickwork with radially placed diamond-headed and ball-shaped ornaments. The three-part window section has a round-arched fanlight in the centre (Serliana motif).

For the rear facade, constructed of grey brick, yellow brick facing is applied decoratively in the bands, in the setting and closing stones in the round-arched and segmental arch relieving arches and in and around the round spandrels. Against the symmetrically arranged gable is placed a door on the ground floor to the right leading to a single-storey extension, which only dates in part from the original building period. On the second storey, which also forms part of the ground floor of the church interior, three round-arched windows are placed with cast-iron glazing bars, fitted with leaded glass. The three windows on the two upper storeys have renewed (quasi-)sash windows, while on the attic storey there is a small four-pane sash window.

INTERIOR the church room consists of one large, high rectangular space, with the internal entrance vestibule projecting into the church interior. Most striking is the ceiling executed in green-cream-white painted papier-mâché, consisting of a geometric pattern of moulded strips, scrollwork and reliefs with floral motifs.

Around the walls runs a relatively high wooden wainscoting, which is terminated by a moulded strip, on which pilasters with composite capitals are evenly distributed across the walls. Both corners at the rear of the church interior are chamfered and fitted with arched niches flanked by pilasters, with cast-iron grilles above.

Valuation

The church building is of general importance due to its cultural-historical value as a spiritual expression of a church building constructed as a meeting room from the last quarter of the 19th century.

The building with its interior is of general importance due to its architectural-historical value because of its Eclectic architecture inspired by Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Romanesque from the period in question. In particular, the papier-mâché ceiling in the interior is important because of its remarkable use of material and rich ornamentation, which is characteristic of the last quarter of the 19th century and represents a certain rarity value.

The building is largely intact in its main form, use of materials and detailing, both the exterior and the ground floor of the interior.

The church is of general importance due to its urban development value through its location within the protected townscape of Gouda along the first city expansion.