Woonhuis, Engelsestraat 2

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

VILLA Engelsestraat 2 forming part of a COMPLEX of ten villas in timber-frame construction, Harlingerstraatweg 29-41 and Engelsestraat 2-6, built in the winter of 1922-'23 in the Chalet style. The developer was K. Wits, director of the N.V. Maatschappij tot huizenexploitatie Frisia and J. Scheltema the executing and supervising architect. The dwellings were obtained as building kits from Austria, for Leeuwarden an early example of standardised construction for this type of dwelling. The design was supplied by the manufacturer, the `Vereinigte Möbel- & Holtzwarenfabriken u. Sägewerke Schönthaler - Silva' from Vienna. However, compared to the drawing of the building application, some modifications took place. In the drawing the roof at the front is barrel-vaulted; executed are stepped gables with substantially projecting gabled roofs. Moreover, almost all dwellings received on the side by the rear rooms trapezium-shaped bays with balconies for the upper storey. Where these are not present, a second balcony came on the conservatory extension at the rear. These may be modifications by Scheltema. The construction sum of the villas prefabricated in Austria and transported in elements to the building site amounted, including transport costs, to just over f 9000,- per unit. Internally the dwelling has been largely altered on the ground floor; the exterior is still virtually intact.

Description

EXTERIOR: The villa is built in timber-frame construction with wooden walls. The predominantly horizontal wooden parts, fitted together with tongue and groove, are incorporated in a framework of stiles and rails. With its substantially projecting gabled roof the villa has a distinctly foreign Chalet style.

The dwelling has a rectangular floor plan and is two full storeys and a spacious attic high; at the rear over the full width a volume of one storey with a half-hipped roof has been added, in which the conservatory (called veranda in the design) and the scullery are housed. In the original rear facade three windows with small glazing bars and a glass door have been replaced by a glass wall. The gabled roof has substantial overhangs at front and rear and is covered with red, corrugated Frisian tiles. On the roof slopes on both sides are relatively closed, wooden roof dormers with small cross windows. At the front on the ground floor a trapezium-shaped bay is built out in the centre, above which a balcony came for the upper storeys. Also at the back on the half-hipped roof of the conservatory a balcony has been built.

In the gable tops the wooden parts are worked vertically in the apex and the sides. Front and rear facades are opened with generous windows, below sash windows provided with fanlights furnished with diagonal glazing bars. On the upper storey are two-light windows with small glazing bar divisions; the balcony doors are flanked by single windows of this type. Here they are provided with shutters. The side facades have an irregular articulation with large and small windows, likewise provided with small glazing bar divisions. In a number of dwellings the glazing bar divisions have disappeared, but all still have the fanlights with diagonal glazing bars.

In the coloured design drawing the woodwork is indicated in light brown and dark beige; old (black and white) photographs suggest that the dwelling was indeed painted in mid-tones. Currently the walls are dark brown; the stiles and rails are white and the window frames, windows, shutters and doors white/dark green. This approach in broad outline is vividly detailed in individual parts. The balconies have flat, urn-shaped balusters and balls on the fence posts. In the front gable top the vertical parts end in disc shapes, possibly for drainage, which are painted in contrasting colours in most dwellings. In the front gable top square ornaments pointing upwards are fitted on the sides at the apex and similar ornaments in the top which received a small pane.

INTERIOR: The dwelling layout on the ground floor originally consists at the front of a small vestibule, a hall where the stairwell and cloakroom/toilet open out. The vestibule has been enlarged at the expense of part of the corridor. Next to the entrance section lies a broad front reception room. The suite wall has disappeared, but the spatial layout can still be experienced because the rear room is slightly narrower. The rear room originally opened out to the conservatory with again suite doors between cupboards; this too has disappeared and the space pulled towards the rear room. Next to the rear room lies a spacious kitchen with storage cupboard and behind it, in the extension, the scullery. Kitchen and scullery have been slightly altered but are still present. The remarkably easy, lazy staircase leads to the upper storey; the staircase is, like the landing and the staircase to the second storey, provided with railings with balusters. On the upper storey three bedrooms are housed; the two which lie in line with each other originally had a connecting door in a cupboard wall. The partition wall has been altered here. On the upper storey the original panelled doors are still present. Under the roof are two bedrooms with built-in cupboards on one of the sides and a small room.

VALUATION

The wooden villa is of general historical, architectural-historical and urban planning importance

- because of the wood system construction imported from abroad, which was unusually rare for that time, which probably relates to the shortage and expense of brick materials;

- because of the thereby remarkably `exotic' Chalet style that stands out from the existing architectural image of the externally intact, internally mostly altered dwellings;

- as an element in the lively but not restless urban planning grouping of the ten villas at and near a spacious crossroads.