R.K. Ver. v. Groote Gezinnen

English translation

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Description

Introduction.

A series of WORKERS' DWELLINGS with a square on the Pelssingel, the Geert van Calcarplein, the Pieter Vreedestraat and the Geert van Woustraat, located in the Bossche district De Muntel, which is protected as an urban townscape. The dwellings, designed in 1920 by architect H.W. Valk, were built in 1921 in a Cubist-Expressionist style on commission of the housing association 'St. Joseph' (now SWH). Text on sandstone plaques on the pillars in the gatehouse at the Geert van Calcarplein: 'Bouwvereeniging St. Joseph'/ 'R.K. VEREENIGING voor GROOTE GEZINNEN'. The complex comprises a total of 70 residential units with 11 different dwelling types. The housing association 'St. Joseph' was founded in 1919 at the initiative of the Den Bosch branch of the 'Rooms Katholieke Bond voor Grote Gezinnen' (Roman Catholic Association for Large Families), which had been established a year earlier. The aim was to combat the alarmingly high housing shortage among large families of workers. The present object is the first residential complex realised by 'St. Joseph' in De Muntel. The most important alterations concern renovations in the nineteen-thirties, nineteen-sixties and nineteen-eighties when the dwellings were modernised internally and simplified externally. Many of the bedrooms designed for large families were combined to create larger living spaces. The windows, originally with horizontal glazing bars, were simplified and an insulation layer of tempex was applied along the entire rear facade.

Description.

A winding series of dwellings consisting of a symmetrical U-shaped part surrounding the north side of the Geert van Calcarplein and an adjoining symmetrical elongated part located mainly on the Pieter Vreedestraat and oriented north-south. The three-storey buildings (partly excepted) have front and rear gardens with small garden walls. The series consists mainly of adjoining two-storey terraced dwellings under a flat roof with a large roof overhang (extended in 1937). On the corners and centrally in the wall facing the square are three-storey dwellings with staggered gable walls. The brickwork of the walls, laid in Flemish bond, consists of dark brown brick and various shades of red brick are used for the main wall. Blue glazed brick is used for details. The brickwork is further enlivened by dentil bands and horizontally and vertically projecting ornamental mouldings. Single, double or triple linked entrances with porches formed by pilasters and small canopies. On some of the profiled pilasters, brick benches are built in at the base. Simplified four- and three-part windows. Original glazing bar division still preserved in much of the fanlights of the entrances and the windows on the upper storeys above the triple linked entrances, notably on the Pieter Vreedestraat. Corner dwellings with a small diagonal balcony on the street side and running balconies along the rear. The three-storey gatehouse at the Geert van Calcarplein has a wide passageway on brick pillars on which the aforementioned text plaques are mounted. Above the passageway a red terracotta image of St. Joseph with child, the patron saint of the housing association. Above that, in the cornice, is the coat of arms of Den Bosch with lions and linden tree in terracotta as a maker's mark. On either side of the passageway, projecting volumes with the entrances of the gatehouse dwellings. Although modernised internally, the dwellings still give a good impression of the original layout. The two-storey building volumes contain single-family dwellings with living room and kitchen on the ground floor and three bedrooms and storage on the first floor. The three-storey building volumes contain lower and upper dwellings with living room, kitchen and three bedrooms. The living rooms (now simplified) were originally two interconnected rooms.

Assessment.

The series of workers' dwellings is of general significance. The object has cultural-historical value as a remarkable reminder of the severe housing shortage among large families of workers in the early nineteen-twenties; due to its importance for the development and target group policy of housing associations; as an expression of the development of Roman Catholic associational life with regard to social care tasks. Furthermore, due to its significance for the typology of gatehouses and of gable walls around squares. The object has architectural-historical value due to the Cubist-Expressionist architectural style applied to workers' dwellings and also due to the aesthetic qualities of the very carefully executed detailing and ornamentation.

The object has ensemble value due to the space-creating significance of the adopted ground plan for the appearance and the urban planning of the district. Furthermore, due to the importance of the image-defining gatehouse for traffic flows and further urban development of De Muntel.

The object is significant in relation to the visual and structural integrity of the district De Muntel, which is to be protected as an urban townscape, and is, owing to its characteristic form and the gatehouse, relatively rare in Brabant.