Ponderosa

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.

South of the centre of Oisterwijk, on the Scheepersdijk, stands the detached DWELLING HOUSE 'Ponderosa' from 1920. The plot is situated on a corner. A garden surrounds the dwelling house, which displays elements of the Colonial style through its striking use of wood as the primary building material and a veranda in the north facade. The single-family dwelling is almost entirely prefabricated and could therefore be quickly and easily assembled. It was built according to a half-solid rapid-build method called 'Systeem Scherrer 1919', named after the German Franz Scherrer. He had a special factory for manufacturing demountable and transportable wooden houses and workers' dwellings. During renovation, the roof tiles were replaced. At that time, two new finials were placed on the ridge. The chimney on the western roof slope was removed. A new roof window is present in the southern roof slope.

Description.

The cellared dwelling house has one storey beneath a hipped roof with a substantial roof overhang. To this, a zinc master gutter is attached with iron gutter brackets. A roof dormer is situated on the northern roof slope, and a brick chimney on the eastern roof slope. The dwelling house has an almost square ground plan.

The building system consists of a patented structure of frames with solid insulating layers. To a brick plinth, laid in cross bond, a wooden skeleton consisting of stiles and rails is anchored. The filling of this skeleton consists of a cavity laid between the stiles with a half-brick wall of rubble stone on the inside and a wooden facing on the outside consisting of horizontal, rebated elements with vertical cover battens. Wood and rubble stone are relatively inexpensive and light building materials. The bay division of the facades is determined by the regular spacing of the cover battens. The facades contain standard windows, usually made up of an 8-paned hopper window with a 4-paned fanlight (or a variant thereof) and wooden panel shutters that accentuate the window division. These windows are always positioned between two cover battens. The north facade, facing the Scheepersdijk, consists of ten bays. On the east side there is a standard window and on the west side the facade wall is omitted, thus creating space for a veranda. A staircase with four treads, which taper and become shorter towards the top, leads to a wooden gate that provides access to the veranda, which extends over six bays. Between the wooden columns there is a balustrade with finely worked wooden balusters. In the veranda there is a standard window with, beside it, a double wooden veranda door. In terms of appearance, this door is nothing more than a repetition of the standard window with the frames extended to ground level. In the east side of the veranda there is a wooden front door and on the west side the veranda is closed by a cross window with fixed panes. In the west facade and the east facade, each consisting of eight (unequal) bays, there are two standard windows with shutters and between them on each facade wall a rainwater pipe. The south facade, like the north facade, is made up of ten bays. The facade contains two more standard windows and on the east side there is a back door with a 4-paned window above it. Striking is the extension in the sixth through eighth bay (counted from the left). Within this extension there is a second front door, a glazed panel door with door calf and fixed 1-paned fanlight. In the side wall of this extension there is a fixed 4-paned window with shutters. This extension was probably not originally planned as such, but was added during construction or later to make the dwelling house suitable for occupation by two families.

Valuation.

The object is of general interest due to its cultural-historical value. It is a distinctive expression of a typological development. Furthermore, the object has architectural-historical value because of its distinctive use of materials, the combination of wood and rubble stone, both inexpensive and light materials that in prefabricated form are easy and quick to process. The object is exemplary for system building and economical building practices, which is why it is also significant for the history of building technology. The dwelling house also has rarity value as only few examples of this type of house have been preserved.