Universiteitsgebouw, Keizersgracht 162 A

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

A residential house originally constructed in 1618 after a design by Dirck and Pieter Hasselaer, which was modified in the eighteenth century and provided with a new facade featuring a straight cornice with a tall attic and a double stoep. In 1884 the facade was redesigned in a neo-classical style after a design by J.W. Meyer, commissioned by W. Hovy, director of the Association for Higher Education on Reformed Principles 'Vrije Universiteit', for the purpose of a HOSPITIUM for students. The eighteenth-century house located behind it was left as intact as possible during this process.

In 1923-24 the premises numbered 162 and 164 (the latter of which had already been purchased in 1900) were converted into lecture halls by Tj. Kuipers. The staircase, which was originally located on the left side of the house, was relocated to the right side.

In 1932-33 Keizersgracht 160 and 166 were purchased and together with 162 and 164 were converted, with 166 being designated for office, archive and storage space. The architect was B.T. Boeyinga. The central focal point of the four premises remained no. 162, which contained a ceiling painting on stucco from the 18th century in the senate chamber. In 1968 the premises were sold and subdivided, with 162 being converted in 1969 for use by the Salvation Army. In 1985 162 was subdivided into 8 apartments.

Description

A canal-side property converted into a hospitium in 1884, with the front facade entirely rebuilt in brickwork on a rusticated basement. The property consists of a basement, principal floor and three storeys under a flat roof. The property is four window bays wide. On the ground floor the middle projecting window bays are provided with rusticated bonding, with the deeply recessed round-arched entrance situated in the left bay, accessed via a stoep consisting of two steps. The entrance comprises an oak panelled door with round-arched fanlight. To the right of the entrance, in black paint, the house number 162; above the entrance a keystone in the form of a lion's head. The rectangular window situated on the right side and likewise provided with rusticated bonding has a sandstone sill and a keystone also in the form of a lion's head. The outer two corner bays - with brickwork stripes - are provided at the corners with pilasters, constructed from dressed stone blocks of varying dimensions. The principal floor is bounded at the top by a broad frieze with cornice.

The first storey is provided with pilasters positioned between the windows on a basement with fantasy capitals above which is a frieze with metopes and triglyphs and a cornice. Between the pilasters - with brickwork stripes - opening windows with round-arched fanlights. Above each fanlight a keystone in the form of a volute. The second storey - with a lower storey height - is likewise provided with pilasters between the windows, which here however are rectangular. Differing from those on the first storey only in detail (form of the capitals, keystones above the windows, filling of the frieze and placement of the brickwork stripes). The third storey - again lower in storey height - has blocked corner pilasters. The square windows now no longer have fanlights. The broad frieze in the middle two bays is provided with festoons. Above it a pediment with an iron weathervane on a spherical crown. The cornice and the sloping parts of the pediment are provided with blocks on the underside.

INTERIOR. In the former senate chamber - in the rear wing - there is a ceiling painting on stucco with personifications of the four seasons in the corners. On the four sides natural stone arches are painted bearing a cornice with vases of flowers at the four corners. Within the field bounded by the cornice Flora is depicted, surrounded by putti. Further reminders of the eighteenth-century house are:

- the position of the entrance door and the corridor in the front wing;

- in the rear wing the hall (later the V.U. senate chamber) with eighteenth-century masonry on the outside at principal floor level;

- two late eighteenth-century windows in the hall with Empire glazing bars, which judging by the interior shutters originally had five divisions;

- a chimney of around 1750 with a nineteenth-century hood and a wooden carved mirror above which are four musical putti;

- a nineteenth-century wainscoting.

Valuation

A canal-side property remodelled in 1884, eighteenth-century in date (originally seventeenth-century), with its associated interior, where only the front facade has acquired a nineteenth-century - neo-classical - appearance, of architectural-historical value on account of the aesthetic quality of the facade design. Moreover of cultural-historical value as a former hospitium and 'mother house' of the Vrije Universiteit. Also of significance as an essential component of a larger whole, namely the row of canal-side properties between Leliegracht and Prinsenstraat. Finally of significance on account of the presence of a number of special interior components including the rare eighteenth-century ceiling painting (oil on stucco) with an allegory of the four seasons.