Huis Visser

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

DWELLING HOUSE, built in 1955-1956 to a design by Gerrit Rietveld for furniture designer and art collector Martin Visser in functionalist style, extended by Aldo van Eyck in 1968 and 1974 in a more poetic-humanistic approach. Martin Visser was connected in the 1950s to weaving mill De Ploeg and to furniture company Het Spectrum, both then established in Bergeijk. As client, he gave the architects great freedom in their design. The commission for extension arose from lack of space for the art collection; Rietveld's design offered no room to hang paintings and place sculptures, which would have been particularly disruptive. Furthermore, the glazed corridor caused climate control problems in summer. For the bungalow, which is located in a wooded setting on the north side of Bergeijk's built-up area, a limited budget was available. Originally the plot was accessed from the present-day Lijsterbesdreef. Currently (2009) a curved path hardened with clay runs from the Eikendreef through the wooded plot to the north side of the house.

Description

Dwelling house on a composite floor plan, consisting of the original blunt V-shape with extensions attached to it in the form of a sunken undercellared three-quarter circle from the angle of the V on the south side and a block-shaped section that angles with the south wing. The cut-out quarter of the circular extension is formed by a recessed patio, into which the spiral staircase to the cellar projects. Between the south facade and the extension a terrace, partly covered. The kitchen and garage are located in a building part on the east side of the north wing. The paving of the terrace, patio and staircase consists of simple concrete tiles. The whole is covered with flat roofs; on the circular extension is a large flat-roofed skylight. On the north wing, at the height of the angle, there is a masonry chimney. The facades consist of closed brickwork, partly left as fair-faced brickwork, partly painted white and sienna red (circular extension) and finished at the top with a narrow roof trim (Rietveld) or a somewhat wider zinc edge (Van Eyck). Window casements with brick parapet and substantial overhang with wooden boards (Rietveld) or without overhang with wider zinc edge (Van Eyck) are placed between these facade sections. Van Eyck's extensions are, as it were, slid under the overhangs. The window casements contain large wooden frames and windows. The kitchen (on the south side) has a large corner window in the closed brickwork (without overhang). The recently slightly repositioned entrance section, on the north side, lies beneath a canopy that slopes towards the simultaneously extended garage and consists of a wooden door and adjacent casement with large cathedral glass panels.

The interior is characterized by austerity and, where possible, open connections. In the north wing, besides the study is the original living room with fireplace, from which one reaches the corridor along the bedrooms and via a lazy staircase to the extension. The original glazed bedroom corridor is integrated into the extension, with the glass removed from the casement. Through large glass casements there is a view and access to the patio and terrace. Via the master bedroom at the end of the corridor one enters the extension at the wing, which contains a dressing room and a bathroom. There are still a number of fitted cupboards present, which were specially designed for the house.

The materials used are primarily bricks (painted in light shade) for the walls, concrete (tiles) and light-coloured hard plastic for the floors, concrete for the roof structures and wood for frames and windows. The roof structure of the circular extension consists of a concrete grid supported by some slender single and double steel columns. In the circular extension is the sitting room. At the beginning of it, before the door to the patio, is the concrete spiral staircase to the cellar, which receives daylight from outside at the end via a light shaft.

Evaluation

Dwelling house, built to a design by Gerrit Rietveld and extended by Aldo van Eyck, of general cultural-historical and architectural-historical importance as an evident milestone in the development of mid twentieth-century architecture:

- as an exemplar of flexible post-war architecture that is the result of open-minded patronage by an important furniture designer and art collector;

- because of the typological pioneering value within the oeuvre of Gerrit Rietveld through the introduction of a separate bedroom wing accessed from the living room by means of a glazed corridor, recognizably maintained in the extension;

- as an example of the art of fusion of a purely functionalist and a poetic-humanistic architectural approach;

- because of the aesthetic qualities of both original section and extension, characterized among other things by the closed brickwork walls and the interplay with window sections and overhangs, in which through the unity the work of both architects is individually recognizable;

- because of its integrity, among other things through the retained austerity.