Gezondheidszorg, Sterkerij 125

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

Description of component 7: MEDICAL SERVICE BUILDING.

Introduction

On the inner courtyard of the west wing stands the former medical service building with memorial plaque (FIRST-AID POST, indicated under number 7 on the accompanying map), which was officially commissioned on 28 September 1948 as the successor to an old dressing station that had been completely bombed during the war. The building was designed entirely according to the wishes of company physician Dr. Th. Heimans and was designed by architects D. Masselink and E.J. van 't Eind of the Architectural Planning Office A.K.U.. It displays, among other things in the way the building masses are arranged, the application of modern materials and constructions for optimal light and air access and the balanced, comprehensive facade treatment, stylistic influences from the Nieuwe Bouwen. The building costs were estimated at 65,000 guilders. Against the east facade there is a MEMORIAL in remembrance of employees who died during the war. As part of "corporate self-protection", in 1957 a portico was added to the rear in corresponding style that provides access to a huge underground atomic shelter situated between the medical service and west wing.

Especially in the early years, a number of chemical processes were new and the Netherlands had not yet gained much experience with the effects on health. The spinners, for example, suffered from eye problems. The locally well-known Doctor Heimans, who maintained a private practice (villa Oase) a few hundred metres away, entered the service as company physician of Enka on 1 February 1925. Company physicians did not really exist in the Netherlands at that time; only a few large companies, such as Hoogovens in IJmuiden, had their own medical service with a permanent doctor. Quite quickly, also relying on the experiences of the Enka company in Arnhem, he set up a model medical service in the early years with a very innovative dressing room, examination room, consulting and waiting room for that time. He also arranged the organisation around surgeries, sick checks and medical examinations and he was the initiator of the fire and rescue brigade. When his first medical location was completely bombed during the war years, after the war he was permitted to build a new building that was very modern and practical for that time. Heimans provided, among other things, FIRST-AID lessons to employees. Sick leave at the time averaged 3%.

Description

The detached, predominantly brick building occupies an irregular, composite floor plan and is built from an asymmetrical cluster of single-storey, subtly varied in height, mainly cuboid building volumes under flat roofs with consistently executed generous eaves. The axis of these horizontally oriented volumes is formed by a slender, more prominently rising (8.20 m.) brick ventilation duct with louvres that accentuates the building vertically. Eye-catching features are the rounded facade of the hall in the southeast, in deviation from this, and the three-sided portico in the northeast, which house the two main entrances to the building and are equipped with fully glazed fronts. The northeast front, in the corner of two volumes, rises on a three-sided concrete step of originally two treads (lowest now removed) and under a matching roof overhang. The southeast hall has a rounded corner, erected from concrete posts, which support the semi-circular roof with broad eaves, between which iron rod windows are installed. Around it a brick planter box. At the head the entrance portico with two-tread step. For the brick volumes, porous brick was used, bonded in Flemish bond with slightly recessed joint. Special roof construction with a combination of reinforced concrete for the roof slabs and exposed concrete for the (originally white-painted) facade trim bands, which is otherwise applied for window surrounds and the columns of the hall. This construction makes, together with concrete window lintels, notably large, glazing bar profiled steel windows, doors and fronts possible in the building, particularly in the east and south facades, through which a good and free view of the various surrounding factory buildings was obtained. Characteristic is furthermore the frequent application of glass bricks, also as fanlights in the interior, of which the arrangement has been largely preserved and recognisable. Behind the northeast entrance lies a long central corridor, on either side of which various rooms (originally used as FIRST-AID lesson room, sterilisation room, kitchen etc.) and opening into the central large dressing room, recognisable by three preserved open treatment cubicles on the west side and a notably large east window. Furthermore, the original yellow tile floor with red skirting boards has been preserved. Behind this lies the aforementioned hall, still provided with marble window sills and two-colour tile floor, which was used as a waiting room and for administration. Otherwise characteristic and noteworthy is the sterile white colour scheme of virtually all rooms.

The symmetrically designed memorial against the east facade has the form of a memorial plaque and consists of two white artificial stone panels fastened to each other on which in black letters the text "TO THOSE WHO FELL 1940-1945", and otherwise the names of various Enka employees who died in bombings, are inscribed.

Valuation

The MEDICAL SERVICE BUILDING (FIRST-AID POST) with MEMORIAL is of general interest:

- The object has cultural-historical values as an illustration of Enka's innovative business management, whereby more and more facilities were increasingly provided on the premises for the safety and well-being of staff and company. Furthermore as a special remembrance of the well-known Doctor Heimans, a central figure in the company who made an important contribution to the improvement of working conditions and can also be seen nationally as a pioneer in occupational medicine, and - in the case of the memorial plaque - as a remembrance of the war casualties among the staff;

- The object has architectural-historical values as a post-war exponent of a building style related to the Nieuwe Bouwen, by virtue of various preserved interior elements, and is of importance from a building-technical point of view due to the applied constructions, such as in the roof construction;

- The object has ensemble values due to the well-considered location on the inner courtyard, whereby it was easily and quickly accessible from the surrounding factory halls and conversely good sight of it was possible from them.