Woonhuis, Berg en Dalseweg 54

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

Double TOWNHOUSE with simple GARDEN GATE built c. 1890 with a decorative facade in neoclassical style in which influences of seventeenth-century English architecture in the manner of palladianism and Inigo Jones are recognizable (cf. Lindsey House, London). In 1891 house no. 54 was purchased by the Lutheran congregation as a parsonage. The property is situated in the continuous southern facade wall of the Berg en Dalseweg near the Mariaplein, in the Altrade district (Nijmegen-East). After the demolition of the city walls in 1876 the area around the old city centre of Nijmegen was developed according to the plan of L.A. Brouwer and along the ring roads and radial arterial roads land was purchased by project developers and private individuals for the construction of housing for the well-to-do. Between 1880 and 1910 predominantly continuous townhouses and villas arose along the Berg en Dalseweg. Through the exceptional treatment of the facade, the property occupies a special place in this facade wall. The eaves height of the properties in this part of the street increases per block towards the east due to the natural slope of the terrain. Behind the property are the two gardens of the dwellings, separated from each other by a brick garden wall. On the street side the dwellings have shallow front gardens bounded by simple wrought-iron fences with swing gates. Near the front door of dwelling no. 54 there is an iron boot scraper.

Description

Partially cellaried double TOWNHOUSE consisting of three storeys on a rectangular ground plan, with at the level of the kitchen of no. 54 a three-storey high, narrow and rectangular extension, which contains storage space. The property is covered by a flat roof which at the rear ends in a roof slope covered with interlocking pantiles. In the roof slope there are three non-original wooden roof dormers (no. 54) and two non-original tilting roof windows (no. 56). The character of the house is determined by stucco elements applied over the full height of the FRONT FACADE, in combination with brickwork in yellow facing brick. The first and third storeys of the facade are squat in relation to the middle storey; the first storey thus functions as a basement for the higher second storey, the piano nobile. The block comprises two dwellings, a dwelling with three window bays on the right side (no. 54) and a smaller dwelling with two window bays on the left side (no. 56). The facade does not reflect the unequal size of these dwellings, but is set up completely symmetrically and has a somewhat projecting middle section of three window bays. A balcony above the front door of no. 56 which is absent at no. 54 is the only element that breaks this symmetry. The first storey has a sandstone plinth with above it stucco-imitated rustica, closed off by a plastered cornice band provided with a meander motif. The fairly wide door openings are located in the second and fourth bays, the remaining bays have windows with sash windows provided with two-part fanlights (at no. 56 the fanlights are absent), partially still with leaded glass. The door openings are framed from the top of the sandstone plinth by a motif of bundled laurel branches. The original double doors of both houses have disappeared; the current door of no. 54 dates from the nineteen twenties, the door of no. 56 is of more recent date. From the piano nobile the window bays are flanked by a total of six colossal pilasters provided with bases and capitals with egg-and-dart moulding, which extend over the first and second floors. The pilasters carry a corniced main entablature, of which the architrave and the Doric frieze are interrupted by the windows of the third storey. The facade is closed off by a corniced attic zone, which consists of a projecting closed balustrade with balustrades on either side. On the wall piers behind the stucco pilasters there is contrasting yellow facing brick laid in Flemish bond. On the piano nobile there are five sash doors with two-light fanlights between the plastered pilasters, partially still provided with leaded glass. The doors are each closed off by a plastered main entablature and a triangular pediment carried by consoles. A balcony has been fitted in front of the second door from the left (no. 56), the other doors are provided with French balconies. The third storey has two-light sash windows, in front of which there are wrought-iron balustrades with star motif. The sober REAR FACADE is built up in exposed brickwork, laid in English bond. Both dwellings have a conservatory. The conservatory of dwelling no. 54, built over two storeys, was altered in the nineteen twenties. The conservatory of no. 56 is covered by a zinc roof with gutters which runs across the full width of the facade and at the level of the kitchen forms a lean-to. In the second storey there are T-sash windows with two-light fanlights, closed off at the top with lintels. The windows of no. 56 partially still have fanlights with mousseline glass. The arrangement of the INTERIOR of both dwellings is in many respects still in original condition. In the interior of both dwellings there are still many original and valuable elements, such as marble, tile and parquet floors, richly ornamented stucco ceilings, wainscoting, profiled door surrounds, wall tiling and built-in cupboards. Dwelling no. 54 has a vestibule with marble floor and plinth with above it rustica work in stucco. Both dwellings still have complete staircases, in no. 56 this is a two-arm imperial staircase, in no. 54 a more generously arranged imperial staircase with three arms. Both staircases have wooden newels (in both houses different in detailing) and characteristic turned wrought-iron balusters with rosettes. It is striking that the detailing of the two dwellings, especially in the main rooms on the piano nobile, is very different in character. The two-window wide front room of the piano nobile of no. 56 is decorated in a rich neo-Renaissance manner. The space is entered via an entrance with wooden panelled doors with cushion panels, which on the interior side has a particularly rich surround in the form of a Renaissance doorway, consisting of an entablature carried by columns with Ionic capitals on high pedestals with a balustrade motif. Around the space runs a low wooden wainscot with panels above which the original wall covering is still present. On the east side of the space the wainscot continues into a wooden fireplace surround, of which the chimney mantel consists of a corniced entablature carried by angled colonnettes and the chimney breast of a surround of pilasters decorated with scrollwork and closed off by a cornice, within which is the motif of an entablature with pediment. The base of this motif is missing, possibly there was originally a mirror here. The space is closed off by a wooden ceiling painted in various shades of green, which is divided by beams into sunken panels of unequal size. The beams of the ceiling are decorated with scrollwork and with an ornamented knop at the intersections. In house no. 54 there are in the rooms en suite on the piano nobile two identical marble chimney breasts detailed with diamond heads. In the nineteen twenties of this century a number of elements were altered in no. 54, such as the conservatory (now with terrazzo floor), the leaded glass filling of the doors between house and conservatory and the aforementioned front door of the dwelling. In the back rooms on the second floor of both dwellings, the construction of the roof slope is visible.

The front gardens are bounded by simple wrought-iron FENCES with swing gates.

Valuation

Double TOWNHOUSE with simple GARDEN GATE built c. 1890.

- Of architectural historical value as an intact and rare example in interior and exterior of an urban dwelling house from the end of the nineteenth century. The front facade stands out through a remarkable combination of rich ornamentation in stucco work and brickwork in yellow facing brick, which reveals influences of palladianism, in particular Inigo Jones.

- The property is of urban planning value as a distinctive component of the street facade of one of the arterial roads of Nijmegen, of which the characteristic development of townhouses arose in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The property plays a characterizing role due to the exceptional treatment of the facade. The property has ensemble value in relation to the adjacent properties on the Mariaplein, which through the presence of a great variety of facades, forms a sampler of styles around the turn of the century.