Cuypershuis
At the age of 25, architect Pierre Cuypers designed and built a striking symmetrical building on the outskirts of his home town of Roermond. It became his family home, but there was also room at the location for his workshops. 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.
Highlights
Gothic building in brick, his favourite building material. The sober facades of the workshops flank the central, more decorated living quarters with influences from Pugin. The facades are embellished with tile pictures and statues examples of Cuypers building decorations. In the garden there is a timber store, where the wood needed for the production of statues and furniture could dry, and a sculpture gallery. In 1907, son Joseph Cuypers converted the southern workshop into a family home with a beautifully decorated entrance vestibule and a hall of honour for his father. In 2020, the decorative ceiling in the former living room was reconstructed.
Insider's Guide
Cuypers left behind an extremely large oeuvre. His most famous building is the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. His buildings in Roermond include the house at Swalmerstraat 49, eighteen houses in Frans Douvenstraat, two burial chapels and his own grave monument in the Oude Kerkhof, and the bandstand on Munsterplein. He also restored the Munsterkerk.
Another interesting workshop building in Roermond is located at Wilhelminasingel 67. This former stained-glass workshop belonging to the Nicolas company now houses a gallery.