Czaar Peterhuisje

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

TSAR PETER'S COTTAGE from around 1632, forming part of the museum complex "Tsar Peter's Cottage".

Description

A timber dwelling of one storey constructed on a rectangular ground plan, under a gabled roof covered with red Dutch tiles. The strongly sagging side facades are composed of broad caulked sections and provided with a wooden gutter on profiled gutter clamps. The front and rear facades are sheathed up to the cornice level with broad vertical sections (front partly with a concave cross-section) and above provided with a hipped gable of broad caulked sections closed by straight wind braces. In the centre of the front facade (E) is a clamped door of broad sections. The front facade is otherwise, like the right side facade (N), closed.

The left side facade (S) has to the right of centre a vertically split clamped door with above it a two-part fanlight provided with plain leaded glass. To the right in the facade is a cloister window with below a twelve-light casement window in front of which a clamped shutter, and above likewise plain leaded glass. The rear facade (W) has to the right of centre a split door with a clamped lower door of vertical sections with above a nine-light window as upper door. The door is flanked by multi-light (fixed) windows. In the middle above is a clamped door of three vertical sections hung on two hand-forged thumb hinges. The interior is still largely in its original state and contains among other things two rooms separated by a wall of vertical sections and a collar-tie roof truss construction clad with broad sections resting on four light trusses. The wall posts of the timber frame composed of four trusses are provided with straight corbels. In the eastern room is among other things a bed alcove and a chimney with two white marble memorial stones in the plastered mantelpiece which according to inscription were placed in 1814 by Alexander I. The timber house is placed on a rectangular podium of red brick with hard stone corner blocks, with cast-iron ventilation grilles in the short sides, and on the left side a wooden staircase of three steps at the height of the door in the side facade of the cottage. The two worked stair balusters have a Russian-looking crown in the form of an onion. At the base the timber walls rest on a plinth of yellow facing brick which follows the sagging form of the cottage. The cottage is suspended all around from a timber frame placed on the podium consisting of five trusses which are connected to each other at two heights by rails and at the top by longitudinal beams and pass through the roof of the cottage. Against the side facades of the house are wall posts which are fastened with bolts to the said rails. The posts of the five trusses are provided at the top with (3) corbels in the transverse and longitudinal directions and a wooden decorative board. On that of the centre post on the south side are painted the years in which Peter the Great visited Zaandam (1697 and 1717). Attached to the post to the right of this is a wooden sign with the following text: "PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SCRATCH OR CARVE ON THE WALLS DOORS OR WINDOWS".

Valuation

The Tsar Peter's Cottage is of general interest as a historically-functional main component of the museum complex "Tsar Peter's Cottage" and as a largely well-preserved example of a simple timber dwelling from the first half of the 17th century, where Tsar Peter the Great stayed in 1697 during his visit to the city of Zaandam, which was important for the development of the Russian fleet.