Houten Joris

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

Detached wooden DWELLING HOUSE, the Jorishuis (now Houten Joris), located on the Wolsbergerweg, a country road built with a few farmhouses and detached residential houses in the rural area south of the village of Voorthuizen. The house was designed around 1928 initially as a holiday home, probably by the architects CHRIS WEGERIF and F.L.P. DEWALD for the benefit of the pupils of the Vrije School in Den Haag who themselves helped with the construction. In the twenties the surroundings consisted largely of uncultivated heathland and for this reason exerted considerable attraction on campers from the western part of the country. The holiday house was never completed and around 1930 the anthroposophical doctor dr. Rudersdorff had it finished to go and live there. There existed in Voorthuizen in the twenties and thirties an anthroposophical community, of which several buildings in the area bear witness, such as the house Harremaatweg no. 38, also built by Wegerif, in collaboration with Frits Gerretsen, in 1929. The Jorishuis recalls in its main form the sheep shelters as they occur frequently in this part of the Veluwe. The organic forms of floor plan and roof, as well as the detailing, are related to Organic Expressionism, influenced by the ideology of Rudolf Steiner. The house is still in largely original condition, although recently a small extension, half sunken into the ground, has been placed on the rear side. Several details have also been altered, including a thatched canopy on a wooden frame that has been added to the front. Originally an anthroposophy-based colour scheme was applied in the house, which is no longer present.

Description

The detached wooden DWELLING HOUSE has an elongated polygonal floor plan and comprises one storey beneath a reed-thatched overhanging hipped roof in which a brick chimney and three roof lights are situated. On the ridge there are red ridge cresting and beneath the roof lights red soilpipe tiles. The roof is high and irregular in form, as are the facades which have an undulating shape and are entirely constructed from black-painted wooden weatherboarding. In the facades are polygonal windows. A non-original canopy has been placed in front of the symmetrically arranged narrow FRONT FACADE. In the centre there is a recessed porch with sidewalls angled inward. The green-painted clamped front door has single-glazed sidelights that slope away at the top. A non-original window has been inserted in the door. The roof slope is cut out in the middle to accommodate a hexagonal window with an opening single-glazed window frame. The RIGHT SIDE FACADE has, at the location of the living room, an elongated, polygonal composed window with a single-glazed window frame flanked by an opening window frame. In the left, projecting part of the facade is a polygonal window that is divided into two by means of a bent central mullion. In the roof slope is an elongated roof light with three single-glazed windows of unequal size and two triangular black-painted panels. The LEFT SIDE FACADE has a small square window next to a larger polygonal window on the right in the projecting part of the facade and an elongated window as described in the right side facade. Entirely to the left a non-original window has been inserted, executed in matching style. In the roof slope is a similar elongated roof light as in the right side facade. On the REAR FACADE is the non-original, half sunken extension. The layout of the INTERIOR is still in large part in original condition. It consists of a modest entrance hall that provides access to small rooms on either side in which kitchen, toilet and bathroom are now housed, and to a large main room, two storeys high, which is used as a living room. At the rear, a space has been separated off by means of a wooden wall, which extends into the later added extension. Via a non-original staircase in the living room, a small attic room above the hall is accessible. Particularly valuable elements in the interior that are related to organic expressionism are the polygonal ceiling of the room and the sculptural, fan-shaped flame relief above the fireplace and around the flue.

Valuation

Wooden DWELLING HOUSE originally built as a HOLIDAY HOME around 1928 presumably designed by WEGERIF and DEWALD.

-Of architectural-historical value as an intact and good example of a dwelling house from the twenties built in the rarely applied Organic Expressionist building style. The house is striking for its aesthetic qualities in main form and detailing, such as the facades entirely executed in wooden weatherboarding and the polygonal windows, as well as for the interior in which, among other things, an organically designed fireplace feature is found.

-Of urban planning value as a distinctive component of the historically developed rural area south of Voorthuizen, on a road where, alongside farmhouses, several residential houses have been built. Here the house plays a visually defining role through its distinctive appearance.

-Of cultural-historical value as an expression of the presence of an anthroposophical community in the Veluwe village of Voorthuizen. This life conviction is clearly legible from the building style applied to the house.