Coudewater

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 VILLA for gentlemen, later called PAVILION Milla de Campen, is located in the northwestern corner of the site. The large terraced ornamental garden on the west side still gives an impression of the originally very rural-seeming location. The pavilion, still in use as such, is now surrounded by new buildings and car parks. The building, dating from 1910, is constructed in Neo-Renaissance style. Initially the Brothers of the Institute for Good Works slept and worked here (headquarters in Ronse, Belgium). They cared for male patients. As a result of a conflict with management, they left Coudewater in 1919, after which the Sisters of Mercy moved into the pavilion. The leafy west side still accords with the contemporary notion that a rural environment and fresh air were considered beneficial for patients and staff. The pavilion has been subjected to repeated major internal alterations. This illustrates the changing ideas over time regarding living conditions within psychiatric centres: life in large groups, housed in large pavilions, gives way to smaller groups in adapted pavilions or in independent living units elsewhere on the site. Externally, particularly noticeable are the attached conservatory on the west façade (1961) and the extension on the north façade (1962).

Description

The partially basement free-standing brick pavilion has an almost L-shaped floor plan and comprises two storeys and an attic storey under a composite roof covered with slate in Maas bond, consisting of a flattened hipped roof with ridge mouldings over the main volume and hipped roofs at right angles to it on the projecting right-angled end walls and a projecting corner building. Adjoining the corner building on the southwest side is an octagonal three-storey tower with an onion spire. In the recess over the full length of the west façade on the first floor a loggia with cast-iron columns. Also on the north façade a loggia with the same columns and tapering brick piers. Further on this façade between the loggia and the corner building a single-storey outbuilding under a sloping roof. In the roof sections various Flemish gables and turned top gable, all with abutting saddle roofs and crowned with segmental pediment, and some small windows. Corner building with Flemish gable under flat. The brick masonry laid in English bond is enlivened by the use of differently coloured bricks for the trash frame and rising masonry, furthermore red (profiled) face brick, stone, marl layers and marl blocks for detailing. Guttering blocks incorporated in a partly continuous arch frieze. Varied, sometimes paired window bays, including segmental-arch, round-arch or square-headed windows under arch or lintel, mostly with sash windows with yellow cathedral glass and small glazing bars in the fanlight and furthermore with natural stone reveal and closing stones and hardstone sills. West façade with accentuated entrance framed with natural stone and crowned with decorative closing stone in the tower, north façade similarly detailed. Other façades executed more soberly in the same vocabulary. From the interior the following are noteworthy: original basement with barrel vault, marble skirting on the ground floor and attic storey with original timber roof truss structures.

Valuation

The former gentlemen's VILLA / PAVILION ('Milla de Campen') is of general importance.

The object has cultural-historical values as a particular expression of developments within mental health care in the early twentieth century with regard to purpose, appearance, internal organisation and location; furthermore as an expression of the development of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Institute for Good Works and the Sisters of Mercy. Furthermore it is valuable in cultural-historical terms because of the importance of the typology for the development of patient pavilions. The object has architectural-historical values due to the aesthetic qualities of the design, the particular ornamentation notably in the end gables, tower and loggias, and the alternating detailing. The object has ensemble values as an essential component of a historically developed ensemble in mental health care. Furthermore as a striking component of the historic building development along the Berlicumseweg. Furthermore because of the historic functional-spatial relationship with the surrounding green areas and roads. The object is important because of the preserved original layout in a landscape setting with loggias and lawns.