Woonhuis, Kanaaldijk West 1

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

OFFICE DWELLING for the lock keeper from 1891 designed in 1888 in the neo-Dutch Renaissance style, built by order of Rijkswaterstaat. The office dwelling on the Kanaaldijk West is situated between the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal and the railway line Utrecht-Amsterdam to the west of it. The dwelling has been partly incorporated into the dyke body due to the later heightening of the canal dyke.

The office dwelling is situated to the north of lock 'Het Honderd'. To the south of the dwelling is an identical dwelling of the bridge keeper.

N.B. The shed is not included in the protection.

Description

The residential house is constructed of grey brick (in English bond, with raked mortar joints and in part still provided with a jointed seam) from a rectangular plan. The detached, partly cellared building volume consists of one storey with gabled roof covered with French tiles. The eastern roof plane is cut through by a non-original roof dormer. The facades are articulated by cemented and white-painted bands and corner stones. The ventilation grilles of the cavity consist of cast-iron rosettes. The flush windows and door in the first storey are executed with arch fields with multicoloured decorative masonry under a semicircular arched relieving arch with cemented blocks and voussoirs and with panel shutters. The T-sash windows have natural stone drip mouldings. The front facade (east side) with three bays has a symmetrical layout and contains a centrally placed entrance with natural stone step, cross door with wrought-iron hinges and latch hardware and fanlight. The side facades are finished with moulded decorative edges and raked-out gutter blocks with between them a multicoloured series of cross forms under a profiled wooden drip moulding. The wooden front porch with flat roof is not original.

The gable end facades (north and south facades) are stepped gables with profiled coping stones. At the top is a raked-out ornament with a cast stone semicircular arched pediment as a crowning feature. In the gable ends wrought-iron wall anchors are applied. In the gable ends are each one flush window with cock's comb and a wooden fixed sash window. The windows in the gable ends have been replaced.

Valuation

The dwelling is of general importance due to its cultural and architectural-historical value as a well-preserved example of an office dwelling from 1891 in neo-Dutch Renaissance style, built by order of Rijkswaterstaat, and because of its function as an expression of and reminder of the history of the canal. The dwelling has ensemble value because of its relationship with the nearby bridge keeper's dwelling and because of its landmark position on the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal and the spatial-functional relationship with this canal. Of constructional importance as an early example of a dwelling with a construction method using a cavity wall.

Cultural-historical description

The construction of the Merwede Canal in the eighteen-eighties and eighteen-nineties of the nineteenth century was to ensure a good water connection between Amsterdam and the Merwede. The section from Amsterdam to the Lek was completed in 1891. In the period 1931-1956 the canal was widened and diverted and received the name the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. Waterstaat built a large number of service dwellings along the Merwede Canal according to a standard type, including for the housing of the bridge and lock keepers of the bridges over the canal and the locks in the waterways and ditches that connected to this water. The canal intersects at the location of the service dwelling the Honderdschen polder and the Breukelerwaard. In consultation with the waterboard Breukelerwaard it was agreed that Waterstaat would construct a ferry with landing places and an unloading place. With the Waterboard of the Honderdschen polder to the west Waterstaat agreed on the construction of a ferry-crossing. The operation of both ferry-crossing and ferry was free of charge.

The service dwellings were executed according to a Waterstaat design from 1888 in the Neo-Dutch Renaissance style. The general type of service dwelling was built with an associated brick shed, as a single dwelling and as a mirrored double dwelling. All dwellings were executed with a cavity and are early examples of this construction method.