Woonhuis, Bovenste straat 18

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.

RESIDENTIAL HOUSE with elements from Art Nouveau and Traditionalism, built in 1910 to a design by architect F. Dupont from Roermond on behalf of entrepreneur Victor Russel from Echt. The property is located in the western streetfront of Bovenste Straat, at a short distance from the adjacent properties. Bovenste Straat is the main street through the centre of Echt, characterised by numerous residential and commercial buildings from the early twentieth century. Together with the adjacent post office built around 1900, the house forms a visually dominant ensemble through its colourful facade treatment and main form.

Description.

Undergroundcellar RESIDENTIAL HOUSE built on a virtually rectangular plan, which narrows at the rear, creating a narrow slanting side in the right side facade with the gutter line stepping up in height. The property has two storeys and an attic storey beneath a gabled roof with a curved and overhanging projection at the front, with the ridge direction at right angles to the street. The slopes are covered with red interlocking tiles and the ridge of the half-hipped roof is crowned with a zinc weathervane. Drainage is via profiled and whitewashed gutters resting on profiled brackets on a gutter frieze laid out along the side facades. Along the front facade the roof is finished with a whitewashed, profiled roof edge. On the left roof slope there is a simple chimney. The facades are built of red machine-made bricks in a bond pattern, with the front facade provided with decorative plasterwork and ashlar. The facades contain mainly segmental arch-closed window openings, with sash windows beneath fanlights with four-pane vertical glazing bars. The windows have artificial stone sills and segmental or round arches as closure. The asymmetrically arranged narrow FRONT FACADE is closed with a truncated pointed gable and has a slightly projecting plinth closed with a natural stone drip moulding. Above this the facade is articulated by plastered bands at the height of sills and lintels, with set-back stones moulded above windows and a profiled and corniced cornice on the storey division. The front door of the house is located on the first storey in the left axis in a round arch open porch. Terrazzo steps lead to the raised stoop of the porch. The walls of the porch are clad with white tiles, provided with contrasting edge tiles with decorative tiles at the top with festoons and laurel wreaths. The wooden panelled door has a glazed central panel provided with decorative ironwork. To the right of the entrance two windows as aforementioned with plastered voussoirs. Between the fanlights a whiteplastered surface against which a stuccoed corbel in the form of a Greek mask forms the springing for a whitestuccoed console that carries a three-sided bay window at the height of the second storey. This stuccoed and vaulted console is provided with a striking net-patterned relief. The bay window is closed with a profiled drip moulding and ends in a balcony with balustrade. On the front of the bay window and in the left axis of the second storey is a segmental arch-closed window; on the narrow sides of the bay window narrow segmental arch windows. The parapets beneath the windows are provided with whitewashed balustrades. The balustrades have a profiled capping plate. The gable-head is framed by braiding plastered along the slanting roof edges. The two large attic windows have four-pane straight-closed fanlights beneath plastered round arch drums in which the building date is noted: "Anno" (left)/"1910" (right). The arch drums are surrounded with stuccoed Florentine arches. Below the roof overhang there is also an oeil-de-boeuf set in a plastic stuccoed festoon that runs over the Florentine arches of the attic windows. The irregularly arranged sober RIGHT SIDE FACADE has only a plastered cornice on the first storey division. In the left half of the facade a lightly projecting brick flue, on the right a number of irregularly placed original windows and doors. At the far right a porch under a segmental arch with double door, above it in each storey a sash window as described. Directly to the left on the first storey a large segmental arch window and above it halfway between the second and third storeys two windows. To the right of this the facade narrows and the narrow slanting facade section is located, with a small round arch window in each storey. The recessed part of the right side facade contains a large segmental arch window with new divisions on the first storey. Above it in each storey a segmental arch window. The narrow asymmetrically arranged sober REAR FACADE is cemented and blank. The LEFT SIDE FACADE is blank. The original spatial layout of the INTERIOR is largely preserved and is characterised on the first storey by a two-aisle arrangement, with a narrow corridor in the left aisle and en-suite rooms in the wider right aisle. The corridor runs out into a transversely placed hall with stairwell behind the suites, beyond which a narrower rear building is located in which, among other things, the kitchen is housed. Among the preserved interior components are a terrazzo floor with floral motifs in the hall, virtually all original wooden interior doors and their surrounds with carved geometric Art Nouveau ornament, stucco ceilings in the hall and in the living rooms on the ground floor, a simple black marble fireplace mantel in the front room, a fireplace mantel presumably added in the nineteen twenties in a rear room and a wooden staircase with Neo-Renaissance balusters; on the upper floor in the corridor and in both rooms on the front likewise stucco ceilings.

Valuation.

The RESIDENTIAL HOUSE on Bovenste Straat in Echt is of general interest and is of architectural historical value as a well-preserved and fine example of a richly detailed residential house from the first decade of the twentieth century with decorative elements from Art Nouveau and Traditionalism. The property stands out for its high-quality aesthetic qualities as expressed in, among other things, the decorative stuccowork on the front facade. The interior is well preserved and contains many original elements such as stucco ceilings in the living and sleeping rooms, a staircase and terrazzo floor. The property is of urban planning value as a characteristic component of the buildings on Bovenste Straat from the early twentieth century. The property plays a visually dominant role here, particularly in conjunction with the adjacent property no. 20; 22. The property is of cultural historical value as a distinctive expression of a socio-economic development, as a former business residence of an entrepreneur that is a characteristic component of a shopping street that developed primarily in the early twentieth century.