Kerk, Straatweg 146

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

The Roman Catholic CHURCH H. Johannes de Doper, built by order of the parish H. Johannes de Doper founded in 1795, was constructed to a design from 1883 by E.J. Margry, A.A.J. Margry and J.M. Snickers in the style of neo-Gothic, inspired by early Gothic. The chairman of the church council, the building pastor W.G. van Vuuren, laid the foundation stone on 14 May 1884. The church was consecrated in 1885 by archbishop Mgr. P. Snickers. The east-west oriented pseudo-basilica with western tower is positioned at right angles to the Straatweg.

The stained glass windows from the end of the nineteenth century are by the painter H. Geuer (1841-1904). The glass by the painters Otto and Willem Mengelberg (1867-1924; 1897-1969) and Cornelius van Straaten (1912-1964; studio of Fa. Cuypers and co. in Roermond) date from the period 1920-1933 and were donated by parishioners. The high altar was made by F.W. Mengelberg in Utrecht and dates from 1894/1895. The late-nineteenth-century angels with large candlestands and the statues of the Sacred Heart of Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Antonia of Padua were likewise made in the studio of F.W. Mengelberg in Utrecht.

The organ, of subordinate importance, was built in 1949/50 by the organ builders Vermeulen in Alkmaar. The chancel was provided with a platform and altar in 1968 following the Second Vatican Council.

Description

The church, constructed in brick under a combination of slate-covered saddle and tent roofs in Maas roofing style, consists in plan of a three-aisled pseudo-basilica. The east-west oriented church has a nearly rectangular floor plan with a projected west tower, a square baptistry with tent roof at the northeast corner, on the east side a rectangular extension under a saddle roof, containing the sacristy, and a five-sided choir under a hipped roof. The eight-bay-long main mass is spanned by a continuous saddle roof, with gablets with gable pediments intruding on both sides at the level of the fourth bay and saddle roofs with gable pediments inserted at the level of the transepts. At the transept ends there is an extension of one storey under a lean-to roof with a portal in a projecting central part with a gable pediment. On the east side, between the choir and the sacristy, there is a narrow single-storey building section under a lean-to roof housing the sacristy entrance. The roof slopes are broken by dormer windows with five-sided roofs, crowned by zinc finials. The tent roofs are likewise crowned by such finials. The roof edges of the gable pediments consist of ceramic combined with natural stone caps with crockets. The natural stone gutters have simple water-spouts. The facades are divided horizontally by the laid-out ashlar courses, bands of natural stone (front facade of church and sacristy only), brick drip mouldings and are terminated by projecting ornamental brickwork including herringbone and mouse-tooth mouldings. The facades are divided vertically by twice-tapering buttresses with sandstone offsets. In each bay there is one multiple brick pointed-arch window. The windows, with the exception of the front facade, have laid brick tracery provided with leaded glass, natural stone voussoirs, which form part of the continuous drip mouldings. The portals equipped with strip doors are fitted with rich hardware. The nearly symmetrically arranged front facade is dominated by the centrally placed partly built-in tall belfry tower. At the far left is the front facade of the baptistry with a single pointed-arch window. The facades on either side of the tower contain a straight-sided entrance with a double door, flanked by colonettes. The natural stone lintel simultaneously serves as a drip ledge of a large window with natural stone three-lobed tracery and a rose window. Above a frieze with ornamental brickwork is a composite window with a straight-sided lower frame with shutter, pointed-arch shaped fanlight and narrow side lights. At the corners are laid brick, tower-shaped pinnacles on buttresses. The tower has three storeys and is constructed from a square floor plan. On the facade surfaces there are tapering buttresses with spandrels. The buttresses are triangular at the top. The octagonal spire is flanked by four small spires. In the southern angle there is a built-out staircase tower. The front facade of the tower contains a projecting pointed-arch shaped entrance portal with a three-step high natural stone stoop. The portal has stepped recession of the reveals, in which profiled and decorated archivolts carried by small columns on natural stone bases are fitted above. Above the double door is a composite fanlight with two coupled lancet windows under a round window in the window head below the central round window at the very top. The top of the portal is crowned by a statue of John the Baptist under a canopy with three-lobed ornamentation, resting on a carved base. Above this is a pointed-arch window with colonettes in the reveals. The reveals are set with colonettes. The upper part of the tower contains in each facade surface three pointed-arch shaped louvres with above each a round clock face, which is set in a gable pediment laid above the roof line.

The nearly identical side facades with a total of nine axes contain seven bays at the level of the nave and the transepts, including two with gable pediments. The gable pediments are equipped with a large pointed-arch shaped window that encloses two lancet windows divided into three parts, the window head containing at the centre brick tracery a round window. The window head of the nearly the entire facade-spanning window is set by a closing round window. an three-part window, above which is a small composite two-part window with under-shutter and pointed-arch shaped fanlight. The entries in the extensions are executed with a single door with pointed-arch shaped fanlight, between which a carved calf. The remaining, identical bays have smaller pointed-arch windows. The left side facade (north side) contains at the far right the blind facade of the baptistry. On the left is the sacristy, which has a blind facade on the west and north sides. The east facade has two axes, separated by the laid-out chimney with a stepped rise in decorative brickwork. The windows in the first storey have natural stone cross windows and a decoratively laid arch field under an arched course. On the upper storey there are two pointed-arch windows with under-shutter and fanlight. The right side facade (south side) has two narrow pointed-arch windows in the far right bay.

The choir contains in each of the five facade surfaces one pointed-arch window. In the eastern facade of the main mass on either side of the choir is a two-part window.

The interior of the church has largely retained its original layout and detailing. The cruciform church space consists - apart from the westernmost bay in which the tower and baptistry are located - of a six-bay-long nave with aisles, a crossing with short transept arms, a choir bay and a 5/8-choir termination. The wall structure of the nave is divided by a pointed-arch arcade separating the aisles, a triforium gallery with per bay five pointed-arch shaped spandrels (of which the middle one contains a wooden door) and a wooden, pointed-arch shaped vault with paintings. On either side of the nave is an aisle with laid cross-ribbed vaults. The polychrome crossing has a cross-ribbed vault carried by compound crossing piers. The transepts are executed with pointed-arch arcades and likewise wooden, richly painted vaults. In the spandrels and in the segment-arch shaped spandrel fields above the arcade are paintings. In the transept ends are the confessionals. The choir consists of one bay with pointed-arches and a pointed-arch shaped vault and the choir termination with five-part scallop shell vault. In the triforium gallery of the choir are paintings. On the left is an access to a hall leading to the sacristy. On the left in the chapel is the entrance to the sacristy.

The walls are characterized by red brick in fair-faced brickwork with raked joints. The spandrels above the pointed-arches are plastered, as are the vault surfaces of the aisles, the wall surfaces on either side of the pointed-arch reveals, the capitals, the colonettes and the corbels. Between the pointed-arch arcade and the triforium gallery and accentuating the transition from wall to vault are projecting ornamental mouldings. The round columns with capitals with floral and leaf motifs between nave and aisles consist of yellow brick with red mortar and rest on a base, which is finished with a natural stone edge. On the left in the portal is the foundation stone with Latin text. The church wall of the portal consists of three pointed-arches under a depressed arch, with a double cramped door in the middle with composite fanlight. Above the portal is the choir gallery with polychrome wooden balustrade.

The high altar in the choir, dedicated to St. John dating from 1894-5, is made of polychrome oak wood with a marble platform and stone tomb, in which the monogram SJ and in the predella the symbols of the four evangelists with in the centre the tabernacle door with the Lamb of God.

The lectern in neo-Baroque style is executed in silvered copper and dates from the middle of the nineteenth century. The baptismal font from the same period is executed in red and yellow copper with marble base, cup-shaped basin and a profiled lid with a crown topped by a cross.

Furthermore, the following are important: several polychrome wooden statues from the last quarter of the nineteenth century; polychrome statue from circa 1900 of Mary with child; polychrome crucifix with text: "Mission Cross 1895-1908"; copper crucifix from the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

The three late-nineteenth-century stained glass windows in the choir by Geuer are dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The stained glass windows of the north and south aisles and the transepts are by O. and W. Mengelberg. The windows in the choir with St. Gregory and angels were made in 1933 by the N.V. Kunstwerkplaats Cuypers and Co. in Roermond and thus signed. The walls of the side aisles contain the late-nineteenth-century Stations of the Cross, painted in oil on canvas, placed between laid composite frames. The stations have texts from the Old and New Testament on the left and right of the station representations. Furthermore, among other things the following are important: wooden doors with rich hardware, wooden pews with carved decorations on the end sides (pew plan largely intact), confessionals in the transept end walls, mosaic floor, sacristy with vestments cabinet, wall panelling, painted beam floor with carved keystones and painted ceiling boarding in corridor. Organ and organ case are not of value from the point of view of monument care.

Valuation

The Roman Catholic Church H. Johannes de Doper is of general importance on account of its cultural and architectural-historical value as a fine example of a carefully preserved inside and out and internally richly decorated pseudo-basilica from 1883/5 in the style of Neo-Gothic by architects E.J. and A.A.J. Margry; on account of the art-historical value of the mid and late nineteenth-century inventory and early twentieth-century stained glass windows and the variety of artists who have contributed; on account of its situational value through the visually defining location on the Straatweg and its characteristic silhouette and as such of importance as a 'landmark'.