Mortuarium, Goudsbergen 12

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

Former MORTUARY/LABORATORY from 1904-1905, forming part of the Duin en Bosch hospital complex. The building was constructed to a design by architect Poggenbeek and engineer Scholtens. According to the first annual report of the Board of Management of Duin en Bosch, the contract for construction was awarded on 31 August 1904. Due to the function of the building, it is situated next to the cemetery behind a couple of high dunes in a remote part of the Duin en Bosch site. The building contained, amongst other things, a laboratory, a post-mortem room, a dark room, a mortuary with cooling cells, a room with a catafalque, and a small waiting room for the family. The attic room was fitted out as a small museum. In 1969 the building was given a new function and was renovated accordingly, whereby the facade arrangement and interior were altered. During renovation to office use in 1994, the interior on the ground floor was renewed, whereby the cooling cells that were still present also disappeared. The attic remains in its original state.

Description

Building constructed on an L-shaped ground plan, of one storey beneath a composite roof covered with red tiles (originally red tuiles du nord) and provided with an overhanging eave resting on beams, along which runs a moulded fascia board. The roof is composed of a gabled roof laid lengthwise that terminates at its western end against a higher transversely-placed half-hipped roof. Above the built-out left half of the north facade are two short gabled roofs separated by a flat section, which cut in at right angles into the northern roof panel of the aforementioned gabled roof. The outer facades are built to approximately 2 metres height in red-brown machine-made headers in alternating bond with struck joints and above this executed in timber framing. The windows have sandstone sills.

In the south facade on the right is a sash window with a two-part fanlight, in the centre two (somewhat altered) composite windows, and in the curved gable at the top on the left three small coupled attic windows (the remaining ground-floor windows are not original). The north facade has a similar attic window in the curved gable at the top on the right. In the projecting left half of this facade in the centre is a tall three-part horizontal window and on the right a door with a fanlight flanked by side windows. Behind this door was the mortuary situated. The large bricked-up wall opening on the left marks the position of a panel door surrounded by side and fanlights that provided access to the waiting room behind (the two windows at this location are, like the other ground-floor windows in the north facade, not original). The arrangement of the end facades has been altered.

INTERNALLY the attic storey is still original. Beneath the half-hipped roof is the entire former museum room (walls and ceiling) lined with beadboard. A narrow hatch in the east wall thereof provides access to the low attic space beneath the gabled roofs. The roof truss structure above this section of the attic is executed as a purlin roof structure with broad boarding.

Valuation

The former mortuary/laboratory from 1904-1905 is of general importance as a historical-functional component of the Duin en Bosch hospital complex. By reason of its architectural design and for the oeuvre of architect Poggenbeek and engineer Scholtens. Further of importance by reason of its group value.