Woonhuis, Harlingerstraatweg 35

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 Harlingerstraatweg 35 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 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 half-hipped; executed are stepped gables with substantially projecting gabled roofs. Moreover all dwellings received at the side adjacent to the rear rooms trapezoidal bay windows with balconies for the upper storey. These modifications may have been by Scheltema. The building cost of the villas prefabricated in Austria and transported to the building site in elements amounted, including transport costs, to slightly more than f 9000,- per unit. Inside the dwelling has been substantially rebuilt, particularly on the ground floor; the exterior is still virtually intact.

Description

EXTERIOR: The villa is built in timber-frame construction with wooden walls. The mainly horizontal wooden parts, fitted together with tongue and groove, are incorporated in stile and rail work. With the substantially projecting gabled roof the villa has a distinctly foreign Chalet style.

The dwelling has a rectangular plan and is two full storeys and a spacious roof space high; at the rear over the full width a one-storey volume with a lean-to 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 In the original rear facade three windows with small glazing bars and a glass door have been replaced by a glass partition wall. The gabled roof has substantial projections to front and rear and is covered with red, corrugated Frisian tiles. On the roof slopes there stand on both sides relatively closed, wooden dormers with small cross windows. At the front on the ground floor a trapezoidal bay window has been built out in the middle, above which a balcony was added for the upper storeys. A similar bay window with balcony has also been built out at the side of the rear room. In the gable tops the wooden parts are worked vertically in the peaks and at the sides. Front and rear facades are opened with generous windows; below casement windows with fanlights provided with cross glazing bars. On the upper storey there 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 cross glazing bars.

On 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. At present the walls are dark brown; the stile and rail work is white and the frames, windows, shutters and doors white/dark green. That approach in broad terms is in details lively and detailed. 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 the water shedding, which in most dwellings are painted in contrasting colour. In the front gable top small square ornaments standing on their points have been placed at the sides and at the top similar ornaments which were given a small pane.

INTERIOR: The dwelling layout on the ground floor originally consists at the front of a small vestibule, a hall from which the staircase and cloakroom/toilet open out. The vestibule has been removed and integrated into the corridor. Adjacent to the entrance area lies a wide front room. The suite partition has disappeared, but the spatial layout can still be experienced because the rear room is slightly narrower. The rear room originally opened onto the conservatory with suite doors again between cupboards; these too have disappeared and the space has been integrated into the rear room. Adjacent to the rear room lies a spacious kitchen with pantry and beyond that, in the annexe, the scullery. The remarkably easy, leisurely staircase leads to the upper storey; the staircase, like the landing and the staircase to the second storey, is provided with railings with balusters. On the upper storey three bedrooms are arranged; the two which lie in line with each other originally had a connecting door in a wall of cupboards. The partition wall with connection has been altered. On the upper storey the original panelled doors are still present. Under the roof two bedrooms with built-in cupboards on one of the sides and a small room are located.

VALUATION

The timber villa is of general historical, architectural and urban planning significance

- because of the foreign-imported timber system-built construction, rarely occurring at that time, which probably relates to the scarcity and high cost of brick material;

- because of the thereby remarkably exotic Chalet style in the existing architectural landscape of the externally intact, internally usually adapted dwellings;

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