Woonhuis, Groningerstraatweg 32

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

DOUBLE GENTLEMAN'S HOUSE designed in 1929 by architect Piet de Vries (1897-1992) in Amsterdam School style. Along with his own residence at Druifstreek 63 and the medical practice with flat above at Ruiterskwartier 113, both in Leeuwarden and protected, this represents a high point in the architect's oeuvre. Four distinct periods can be distinguished in this oeuvre. After training and practical experience in Amsterdam, Piet de Vries was initially influenced by the decorative brick expressionism of the Amsterdam School. During the course of the 1920s, attention to the functional grew in strength and attention to decorative detailing diminished. The result was an original architecture with articulations of different functions in separate, expressively formed building volumes. De Vries did not arrive at the cubic forms of the Dudok manner that befell contemporaries such as Andries Baart and Justus Zuidema. This double gentleman's house is a representative example of the second phase in De Vries' oeuvre. Building permission was granted to the client J. Boersma on 17 January 1929 and the dwellings could be occupied in the same year.

The double gentleman's house was built on the Groningerstraatweg, an exit road to Groningen laid out in 1830/'31. In the second half of the nineteenth century, some buildings with special functions came into being near the site of the demolished Hoeksterpoort. In the 1920s, residential districts gradually developed on either side, though not immediately on this exit road, mostly with working-class housing. On the Groningerstraatweg itself, in the 1920s and 1930s, gentleman's and burgher's houses came into being in an alternation of some detached, somewhat paired and mostly terraced arrangements, furnished with substantial front and rear gardens. The double gentleman's house stands in a closed row of dwellings, regarding which the architect later (1980) commented in general: "I have always found the house in a row constraining and you only get the great line again when you couple them together. I used the verticals as a protective function and to remain within the plane". Regarding this double gentleman's house the architect said: "The double dwelling house also has verticals at the corners and an overhanging eaves line. The windows on the upper storey form a plastic element, while the frieze strip connects the two verticals. (...) in addition there are plastic expressions such as a rounded enclosed opening as entrance and projecting parts as bay windows. Through the deep joints I achieved a beautiful shadow effect in the facade".

Description

EXTERIOR: The double property is constructed on a rectangular plan of 13.8 m wide with extensions for kitchens and fuel stores at the rear (and number 32 with also a garage now in use as storage) with a maximum depth of 13.77 m. The dwellings are articulated in sturdy bay and narrower entrance bays and comprise two storeys under a large gabled roof, of which the front slope extends further down than the rear slope. The extensions at the rear are one storey high with a flat roof. For the ash-bin compartment a brown mottled, sintered brick is used; for the rest a red mottled and in places somewhat greenish sintered brick. All brickwork on the front is laid in Flemish bond with recessed joints; on the rear no recessed joints. The lintels and the like and also the floors are of concrete. The front facade is symmetrical. The entrance bays, built up higher than two storeys and extended to halfway up the roof pitch and there flattened off, are sturdy cubic and vertically directed corner masses. Below, the entrances are set back with a rounded surround of fan-patterned brickwork of the dark type of the ash-bin compartment. The original doors have ornamentations of blocks and horizontal lines with a row of small horizontal lights. In the angle between entrance and bay window are planted flower boxes. On the storey of the corner bays of each dwelling is a bow-shaped, set between concrete lintels, projecting window for lighting a bedroom, that of number 34 with leaded glass. The cover plates of these corner windows are also the bases of restored, vertically standing, tall flagpoles which are connected with two brackets to the brickwork of the corner bays. The corner bays have a strong vertical orientation. The intermediate broad volume is chiefly horizontally oriented. Below, an undivided bay volume projects, in which large horizontal windows face the front and side lights face the entrance sides. The double bay is covered by a projecting concrete lintel. Above the double bay a flower box mounted on projecting corbels covers the parapet for the balconies, which are separated by a modest, stepped wall. On the upper storey, behind the balconies, the window bands with doors - the central sections project bow-shaped - are coupled in chiefly horizontal framing. They are capped at the top by a painted concrete frieze with mouldings and corner ornaments and a far projecting brick gutter. The front slope of the transversely placed gabled roof, of which front and rear slopes are covered with unglazed Dutch pantiles, originally contained no roof lights; presently there are two roof windows. On the building drawing a long chapel was sketched, but for unknown reasons it was never executed. In the middle of the rear slope stands a paired chapel, both with two four-pane windows. At the sides and high in the rear slope lie two three-part roof lights for lighting the stairwell. On that rear slope, under the roof ridge and thus not visible from the public road, is a small double chimney and lower, at the sides above the kitchens taller ones. The front gardens have an enclosure with heavy, built pilasters and renewed, original wooden swing gates in geometric forms. In the front gardens retaining walls of the original layout forming terraces.

INTERIOR: Both dwellings have been altered several times. Vestibule with swing doors and wainscoting formed of brown tiles with black borders. Granito floors in vestibule and hall. Staircases to upper storey and attic well lit by tall roof lights. The stairs are provided with partly original, partly restored balustrading and handrails in original forms with some expressive forms at terminations. Under the stair cupboard and toilet. Both below and above largely original doors of simple framed and panelled work; on upper storey and attic equipped with lights in obscured glass. In both dwellings the partition wall with suite doors between the living rooms has disappeared. In number 32 the facade with opening doors to the rear garden has also disappeared and been replaced by a large aluminium sliding door; the garden door of number 34 has been renewed in original forms. The kitchens have been altered and (partly) extended into the scullery.

VALUATION

The double gentleman's house is of general architectural history, architectural and urban planning importance

- because of the prominent place of the building in the second, expressive phase in the oeuvre of the distinguished architect Piet de Vries;

- because of the carefully executed Expressive Style with a striking effect of horizontal and vertical building volumes which imparts the building an original character;

- because of the autonomous architectural effect of the double dwelling whereby it forms a high point in the terraced development in the vicinity.