Woonhuis, Ruychrocklaan 221

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 BUNKER HOUSE with TERRACE LAYOUT and GARDEN, built on the remains of a bunker. The house is located in Benoordenhout, on a very wide street bordering the north side of the Clingendael estate. Around the Clingendael estate, which during the Second World War was the headquarters of Reich Commissioner Seys Inquart, dozens of bunkers were built. Although development has since extended further towards Wassenaar, the area was still undeveloped when the bunker was constructed. The bunker, which was part of a network connected to one another via an underground tunnel system, served as a double kitchen and as a residential shelter. Several of these bunkers were used after the war as the foundation or part of a new house. On the opposite side of the street, a bunker house was also realised, designed by G. Rietveld. The house was built on behalf of the De Brey family, designed in 1950-1951 by modernist architect R. Romke de Vries (1908-1997). The architect's oeuvre is very extensive and includes among other things a large number of residential houses, villas and houseboats but also schools, offices, entire residential districts etc. He valued not only the exterior but also the interior and preferred to design as many details as possible. In several of his many publications he promoted the fixed cupboard with pass-through hatch, as can also be found in the house on the Ruychrocklaan. As an avid sailor, the very productive Romke de Vries also designed sailing ships. His preference for sailing ships is reflected in various designs, for example in the use of types of wood that are also used in shipbuilding. Perhaps the most efficient possible use of space is also a derivative of this. He had his own office since 1938. In addition to exercising numerous other ancillary functions, he also taught for just over twenty years at the Academy for Architecture in Amsterdam and The Hague.

The house has undergone virtually no changes since completion. In the design of the garden, the only change is that the pond has been filled in. The added lift along the side elevation is not part of the design and falls outside national protection.

Description

BUNKER HOUSE with TERRACE LAYOUT and GARDEN. The dwelling is constructed in brick and concrete on a more or less rectangular floor plan. The window frames are of steel. The dwelling itself has no storeys. Internally there are no stairs. Because the dwelling is built on a bunker there are level differences. The bunker (11x26x5 m) consists of a concrete structure with minimal finishing in which steel H-profiles are incorporated in the ceiling. On the street side, two openings have been made in the bunker and fitted with garage up-and-over doors clad in blank lacquered mahogany veneer, so that the former two kitchen spaces of the bunker could serve as a double garage. In the extension of the bunker, where the residential shelter was located, a playroom has been fitted with an entrance to the garden at ground level. Behind the playroom is a toilet and a storage room. The roof slab of the bunker has a thickness of 2.5 metres. Existing openings were used to run pipes through. All stairs are laid on the outside. Via a stair on the left side (east) of the front elevation one reaches the actual dwelling house, which is situated on top of the bunker and together with the terrace on the garden side covers the entire roof of the bunker, up to the extension of the former residential shelter. The house is thus on the first floor and contains one storey of habitation under a flat roof. In two places the dwelling house has cantilevered sections. The living room cantilevers on the street side and on the west side elevation over the roof of the bunker, with the window frame on the corner protruding a little further. Also on the rear at the height of the kitchen-dining area the dwelling projects slightly beyond the bunker. Above the entrance is a far overhanging roof plane that emphasises the

horizontality. Through the forward and backward stepping sections, the design possesses great plasticity. The facades are of West Brabant hand-formed brick with concrete edges and fitted with steel window frames. On the garden side, Kunrader stone has also been used for the facade. The concrete of the bunker has been left partially exposed. The design creates a strong relationship between exterior and interior. The transition between inside and outside is minimised by a large glass wall between living room and terrace, which can be completely slid away, and by the application of a convector pit. The layout of the house is efficient. On the right side of the entrance the cloakroom, on the left side one reaches the kitchen and adjoining dining room via the hallway. Furthermore along the hallway on the garden side three (children's) bedrooms and on the street side the master bedroom and the bathroom. Furthermore a small baby room that is accessible from the master bedroom and from the attic room on the other side. At the end of the hallway the living room. In the INTERIOR, cupboard walls and woodwork have been designed as part of the whole. Of great value among others are the fireplace in the living room in a wall of fair-faced brickwork, the granite kitchen counters with waste chute in the kitchen, and the wooden panelling in the (children's) bedrooms are integral and consistent with the fashion and taste of the nineteen-fifties, as are the applied white and blue ceramic tiles and the glass mosaic in the bathroom and cloakroom and the cupboard wall between the kitchen and the dining room with sliding hatch and drawers that can be slid open on both sides of the cupboard wall, both in the kitchen and in the dining room. The GARDEN has large level differences on the rear, among other things realised with the use of Kunrader stone. The roof of the bunker extension is covered with earth and grass and contributes - due to the resulting height difference since the dwelling does not extend over this section of the bunker - to the plasticity of the design. To be able to reach all levels, in the relatively narrow garden four additional stairs have been incorporated alongside the stair to the main entrance. Terraces and stairs are provided with Norwegian quartzite flagstones in rough stone. On both the street side and in the rear garden use has been made of low brick walls. In front of the children's playroom is the filled-in planted pond.

Valuation

The BUNKER HOUSE with TERRACE LAYOUT and GARDEN is of general importance because of its cultural, architectural and garden historical value:

- through the plastic articulation, the varied use of materials and the careful material treatment;

- as a design by architect R. Romke de Vries;

- as a total design of garden, exterior and interior, characteristic of Romke de Vries;

- through the tension between the used romantic solutions of disguising the bunker and the practical-functional style of the villa design;

- through the inventiveness with which the bunker has been integrated into the design and with which stairs and garden layout bridge the level differences in the terrain and align garden and dwelling with one another;

- in that both exterior and interior and the garden are exceptionally well preserved.