SPECIAL – Dutch Delights!

Welcome to our country special – designed to help you make the most of a week(end) away.

We’ve arranged the houses chronologically, from youngest to oldest. You can explore 20th-century Dutch architecture from the Amsterdam School to Post-Modernism, visiting 26 wonderful homes by Rietveld, J.J.P. Oud and Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, and other architects of fame. Several of these are examples of social housing – an area in which the Netherlands is particularly rich. All the usual Iconic Houses categories are represented: the Rietveld Schröder House is a UNESCO World Heritage monument, in the Dijkstra House you can spend the night. The hidden gem is the private Van Schijndel House in Utrecht that’s open for visits by appointment, while the Wall House #2 in Groningen is a great example of a conceptual home.

Note: Plan your visit(s) well in advance, as house museums can have irregular visiting times and often require online reservation.

De Nollen, R.W. van de Wint, Den Helder, 2006
For Van de Wint, artistry was synonymous with life. He would rather be a gardener than an artist. And besides being a gardener also a draftsman, painter, sculptor, and builder, but gardener is enough. Creating a form and thus a world that contains a thought is enough. In the old inner dune De Nollen, he brought the various disciplines together as a natural unit. The landscape changes into sculpture, sculpture into painting, painting in sunlight and sunlight returns to the landscape.

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Welcome Tempelhof in Winssen, 1995-1999
The Tempelhof a laboratory of the ‘new thinking’, a work of art in and of itself: a holistic concept of buildings garden and sculptures by the artists spouses Adelheid and Huub Kortekaas. In 1995 Adelheid designed the basis for the house and garden and together they perfected and constructed the Tempelhof between 1995 and 1999. In 2018 the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands included The Tempelhof in its list of 70 significant interior ensembles.

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Wall House #2 in Groningen, 2001
Wall House #2 was designed by John Hejduk in 1973 as a vacation home for landscape architect A.E. Bye in Ridgefield, CT, USA. It remained unbuilt until 2001 - when it was finally constructed in Groningen. The focal point of the design is a 14-metre-high wall that stretches 18.5 metres. Various organically shaped spaces and rooms are suspended from this.

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Van Schijndel House in Utrecht, 1992
Hidden away in an inner courtyard in the heart of the medieval city, architect Mart van Schijndel created a conceptual house, presenting a unique experience of space, colour and light. The various experimental and exceptional details include glass windows and doors that hinge on silicone glue, by which they are 'hung' from their stainless steel frames.

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Cube House in Rotterdam, 1984
The Cube House is an architectonic experiment. Architect Piet Blom clearly considered form, aesthetics and spatial effects of greater importance than functionality and practical purpose. Living in the cube is reminiscent of a tree house, accessible via a trunk-like 'pole' with two levels: storage and entrance hall. The cube has three levels: living/kitchen, bath/bedrooms and loft.

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Diagoonwoning in Delft, 1971
Designed by Herman Hertzberger, the Diagoonwoning was originally intended as the prototype for an entire residential area. However, only eight experimental homes were built. The house is conceived as a semi-finished product to be completed and extended by the residents themselves, depending on their own functional and emotional needs.

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Jan de Jonghuis in Schaik, 1962
The house with studio designed by architect Jan de Jong is one of the best examples of the Bossche School, whose architectonic style was based on the theory of Benedictine monk and architect Dom Hans van der Laan, defined by his proportional system of 2/4, 2/5 and 1/7. This also determined the garden, interior, furniture and lighting objects, all designed by De Jong.

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Robijnhof Model Home in Utrecht, 1958
In the 1950s, Gerrit Rietveld was a much sought-after architect for social housing projects. The model home gives a good impression of his philosophy and that of the Nieuwe Bouwen. It also gives a good impression of how it was lived in immediately after completion, emphasising the efficient use of space and maximum incidence of light.

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Rietveld’s Van Daalen House, Gerrit Rietveld, Bergeijk, 1958
Architect Gerrit Rietveld designed a modernist house for the Van Daalen family in a village in the south of the Netherlands near the former weaving factory De Ploeg. Client Roelof van Daalen was co-director of De Ploeg and furniture subsidiary 't Spectrum. The house is a striking example of how Rietveld was able to blur the sharp boundaries between interior and exterior. The contact with nature is optimized by narrow strips of glass between the roof and the wall.

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Polman House in Nagele, 1956
The village of Nagele is the icon of the Dutch architectural period 'Nieuwe Bouwen' the Dutch version of Modernist or Bauhaus architecture and design and early example of post-war social housing. The house museum is on the corner of a row of semi-detached houses with flat roofs and sleek roof moldings. Nagele is the only 'flat roof village' in the Netherlands. It is one of the many distinctive elements that you will find here everywhere. The interior of Polman House is decorated as it was in 1956, after completion.

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Van Eesteren House Museum in Amsterdam, 1952
The Van Eesteren Museum Apartment is in the typical post war suburb Slotermeer. Planned by De Stijl member Cornelis van Eesteren as part of his 1935 plan (AUP), to prepare Amsterdam for a growth of up to a million habitants. The apartment is furnished as example of Goed Wonen, a movement that said 'Good taste is a matter of education.'
   

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Chabot Museum in Rotterdam, 1938
Chabot Museum, initially designed by architect G.W. Baas as a private residence for the Kraaijeveld family, is one of six monumental villas, built between the 1930s and 1960s, in the international Modernist style, surrounded by park-like gardens and in a prime location. In concept, design and effect, the villa park is closely linked to the Bauhaus Meisterhäuser in Dessau.
   

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Dijkstra House in Groet, 1934
The Dijkstra House was built as a summer house. It is an outstanding example of the experimental modernist Dutch architecture of the 1930s. The house was designed by the architects Ben Merkelbach and Charles Karsten, pioneers in the Dutch modern movement. It has been preserved in great detail and can nowadays be rented as a holiday house.
   

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Sonneveld House in Rotterdam, 1933
Sonneveld House is one of the best-preserved houses in the Nieuwe Bouwen style, the Dutch branch of the International Style. It was designed by the architecture firm of Brinkman & Van der Vlugt. 'Light, air and space' became the slogan of these architects. Through the use of modern techniques and materials, they hoped to create efficient, hygienic buildings.

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Sybold van Ravesteyn House in Utrecht, 1932
Have you always wanted to sleep in a museum? Then here's your chance - the former residence of architect Sybold van Ravesteyn, best known for his work for the Dutch Railways and Rotterdam Zoo. Van Ravesteyn would live here until the age of 92. The house is striking in its expressive usage of curved lines, characteristic of Van Ravesteyn's work.

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Erasmuslaan Model Home in Utrecht, 1931
Truus Schröder played an important role in the construction of the houses on Erasmuslaan. For many years, her living room in the Rietveld Schröder House overlooked a sweeping polder landscape. When the land was released for development, she wanted to be certain that what was built there would be aesthetic.

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The Kiefhoek House Museum Rotterdam, 1930
The Kiefhoek, a housing estate of originally 294 family houses and several facilities (shops, etc), was designed by architect J.J.P Oud to house working people, according to the principles of the Modern Movement. Oud used a functionalist urban layout and an ingenious ground plan to create maximum living space in each dwelling.

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Atelier Volten, Johammes Hendrik Mulder Jr, 1927
Atelier Volten is the still-intact former studio of André Volten in Amsterdam-North. André Volten was among those in the vanguard of geometric abstract sculpture. As a sculptor Volten was a pioneer in steel. His iconic sculptures are an inherent part of our experience of urban design. The relationship between the artwork, the architecture, the surroundings and the viewer was his key focus.

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Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht, 1924
It should come as no surprise that the groundbreaking Rietveld Schröder House has a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Amsterdam's 17th-century canals. This architectural masterpiece is a manifesto of the ideas of De Stijl. It is unrivalled - both within and outside the oeuvre of the Utrecht architect and designer.

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Van Zessen House in Alblasserdam, 1923
The design of the Van Zessen House represents a critical step in the development of the principles of De Stijl. Artists and architects associated with this movement emphasized the use of horizontal and vertical lines and the primary colours red, blue and yellow as well as the neutral tones white, grey and black.

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De Dageraad Housing Complex in Amsterdam, 1922
De Dageraad (The Dawn) is a complex of workers' housing designed by the architects Piet Kramer and Michel de Klerk in Amsterdam School style. Museum Het Schip has a satellite visitor centre in De Dageraad that hosts an exhibition of the Plan Zuid (Amsterdam South), designed by H.P. Berlage, and forms a home base for their tours.

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Van Doesbrug Rinsemahuis in Drachten, 1921
In 1921, avant-garde artist and De Stijl founder Theo van Doesburg designed a colour scheme for the exteriors and interiors of several houses in the northern Netherlands. He was able to fully integrate his theories of art and architecture for the first time in the Van Doesburg Rinsema House, that can be experienced now as 3D De Stijl artwork.

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De Papaverhof in The Hague, 1921
The houses in this court are part of residential complex Daal en Berg, which was built to a design by De Stijl architect Jan Wils. Papaverhof comprises a total of 128 middle-class homes, which are laid out in a horseshoe-shaped ring around a sunken park. The monument is the only residential complex in the world designed on De Stijl principles.

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Museum Het Schip in Amsterdam, 1921
'Workers’ palace' Het Schip (The Ship), by architect Michel de Klerk, is renowned worldwide. It is built in the style of the Amsterdam School, a Dutch version of Art Deco. Besides looking like a ship, the building is unconventional from all angles. The exterior consists of bright orange bricks, decked with minarets and a lot of art.

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Country Residence Museum Jachthuis Sint Hubertus in Otterlo, 1920
Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, the former residence of the art collectors and industrialists the Kröller-Müllers, is one of the most iconic buildings in the Netherlands. The house was designed by the important 20th-century architect Hendrikus Petrus Berlage. The Kröller-Müllers used it mainly as a country house.

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Cuypershuis, Pierre Cuypers, 1953
At the age of 25 architect Pierre Cuypers designed and built a striking symmetrical family home and workshops on the outskirts of his home town of Roermond. Cuypers not only designed buildings but the complete interiors as well. His employees in the workshops realized all these designs for sculptures paintings and furniture by hand. Since 1932 this complex has housed the Roermond museum. After a renovation it reopened in 2011 as the Cuypershuis a museum about the life and work of Pierre Cuypers.

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Posted February 16, 2024