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Stonemasons’ marks on those sections of the Dom Church in Utrecht built after circa 1450 belong to the type of late medieval marks widely used in regions within the Holy Roman Empire. If the assumption is correct that each distinct mark of this type appearing on the same building site is unique to an individual stonemason, there must accordingly be a direct relationship between the marks on the Dom and the stonemasons employed by the masons’ lodge, a record of whose wages are to be found in the surviving construction accounts from 1460 onwards.
To demonstrate the existence of such a link, a new inventory of stonemasons’ marks and a new construction chronology were drawn up and used to determine the period during which each mark appears. The resulting datings were compared with the period when the stonemasons were employed in the lodge. In the case of the latest parts of the transept, the time span in which the 23 most frequently observed marks appear proved to correspond with the employment period of the 23 masons who worked for at least nine months in the Dom Church masons’ lodge. In addition, no single mark was in use for so long that it could not be linked to an individual mason, and there was a mason to match each mark. This makes a direct link between marks and masons highly probable.
Thanks to this discovery, various aspects of stonemasons’ marks – as far as the late medieval situation in Utrecht is concerned, at any rate – can now be discussed with greater authority than was previously the case. Thus it is now possible to state that the marks were indeed personal and that they represent individual stonemasons employed in the lodge. Furthermore, it transpires that the stonemasons were involved in laying as well as working the stones. The masters of works do not appear to have been represented by a mark used over an extended period. Mirror-image marks turn out to represent the same stonemason and minor variations do not by and large indicate different stonemasons. The distinction between marked and unmarked stones turns out to have nothing to do with a double payment system.
Since the identity of some (groups of) stonemasons can be fairly confidently determined, some sections of Utrecht’s Dom Church can be more accurately dated. If it is known which stonemason marked a particular stone, it is also possible to determine the time span within which the stone must have been worked. This gives rise to earliest and latest dates which can then be used to date the section of the building. Several paragraphs cover proposals for a new dating for the oldest vault in the chapter house, for (the construction of) the west transept pillars, and for the two surviving nave-aisle pillars.
Finally, similar stonemasons’ marks in Utrecht’s Dom Church and that of Xanten were compared. Sometimes the chronological distance between the appearance of the marks on the two buildings is so great that the involvement of the same stonemason can be ruled out. In all remaining instances, the absence of matching names in the administration of the respective masons’ lodges for the relevant periods makes it reasonable to assume that different stonemasons were involved. Caution is thus advisable when comparing buildings on the basis of identical stonemasons’ marks.
Stonemasons’ marks on those sections of the Dom Church in Utrecht built after circa 1450 belong to the type of late medieval marks widely used in regions within the Holy Roman Empire. If the assumption is correct that each distinct mark of this type appearing on the same building site is unique to an individual stonemason, there must accordingly be a direct relationship between the marks on the Dom and the stonemasons employed by the masons’ lodge, a record of whose wages are to be found in the surviving construction accounts from 1460 onwards.
To demonstrate the existence of such a link, a new inventory of stonemasons’ marks and a new construction chronology were drawn up and used to determine the period during which each mark appears. The resulting datings were compared with the period when the stonemasons were employed in the lodge. In the case of the latest parts of the transept, the time span in which the 23 most frequently observed marks appear proved to...
Stonemasons’ marks on those sections of the Dom Church in Utrecht built after circa 1450 belong to the type of late medieval marks widely used in regions within the Holy Roman Empire. If the assumption is correct that each distinct mark of this type appearing on the same building site is...
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'Een alten wonderlijcken structure ende fortresse'. De Blauwe Toren van Karel de Stoute in GorinchemDespite its significance as the only Burgundian residence built ex novo in the Northern Netherlands, little is known about Charles the Bold’s castle in Gorinchem. The Blauwe Toren (Blue Tower) was constructed between 1462 and 1478 when Charles was still Count of Charolais, but the ill-fated castle was demolished at the end of the sixteenth century. Until now, there have been few sources of information on the tower, but an in-depth analysis of newly discovered archival material has revealed the names of the master builders and suppliers of building materials, as well as the dates of the chief building campaigns.
Charles invited the most prominent architects active in the Northern Netherlands, including Jacob van der Borch, master of works at Utrecht Cathedral, Master Claes of Saint John’s in ’s-Hertogenbosch, and Evert Spoorwater, master of works on various important churches in Brabant and Holland. The main designer of the castle, however, was Jean Marchant. His name has fallen in oblivion, but in his own time he was an important master builder; before arriving in Gorinchem, he had been master of works at Palais Rihour, Philip the Good’s residence in Lille.
Besides names and dates, archival sources have also allowed the exact reconstruction of the internal layout, thereby spectacularly altering the understanding of its design. Hitherto, the castle’s conspicuous round tower was believed to accord with the thirteenth-century tradition of large donjons. However, this research shows that the tower had an exceptionally large diameter of some 35 metres and a central courtyard around which the main formal rooms were organized on the bel étage. The residential quarters of Charles and his wife Isabella of Bourbon were smaller than the ducal apartments of the Coudenberg Palace and Palais Rihour, but included rooms that clearly reflect their high status. Particularly rare at that time, was the existence of a stove and a room to store spices. The tower’s dimensions, the open courtyard, and the fact that the formal rooms were all on the same level indicate that the building had little in common with the traditional keep typology, but instead resembled the exceptional design of circular castles like Castell de Bellver on Mallorca, and Queenborough Castle and the Windsor Castle keep in England.
Despite its significance as the only Burgundian residence built ex novo in the Northern Netherlands, little is known about Charles the Bold’s castle in Gorinchem. The Blauwe Toren (Blue Tower) was constructed between 1462 and 1478 when Charles was still Count of Charolais, but the ill-fated castle was demolished at the end of the sixteenth century. Until now, there have been few sources of information on the tower, but an in-depth analysis of newly discovered archival material has revealed the names of the master builders and suppliers of building materials, as well as the dates of the chief building campaigns.
Charles invited the most prominent architects active in the Northern Netherlands, including Jacob van der Borch, master of works at Utrecht Cathedral, Master Claes of Saint John’s in ’s-Hertogenbosch, and Evert Spoorwater, master of works on various important churches in Brabant and Holland. The main designer of the castle, however, was Jean Marchant. His...
Despite its significance as the only Burgundian residence built ex novo in the Northern Netherlands, little is known about Charles the Bold’s castle in Gorinchem. The Blauwe Toren (Blue Tower) was constructed between 1462 and 1478 when Charles was still Count of Charolais, but the ill-fated...
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It is impossible to study the history of Dutch public housing and urban planning in the twentieth century without repeatedly coming across the name Pieter Bakker Schut. From 1904 onwards, he was chairman of the Sociaal-Technische Vereeniging van Democratische Ingenieurs en Architecten (STV, Social-Technical Society of Democratic Engineers and Architects) and from 1918 a member of the board of the Nederlands Instituut voor Volkshuisvesting (NIV, Netherlands Institute of Housing). In that same year he was appointed director of the Dienst Stadsontwikkeling en Volkshuisvesting (DSV, Department of Urban Planning and Public Housing) in The Hague. In this capacity he was directly involved in the problems of this, by Dutch standards, big city, which was also the fastest growing city in the Randstad urban cluster in the first half of the twentieth century.
Unlike many of his contemporary directors of municipal urban planning departments, he was neither a designer nor an academic. His career unfolded at the interface between practical work and the systematization and professionalization of urban planning as an autonomous discipline. His role in this period of transition was one of directing and inspiring. As such, Bakker Schut’s main significance for Dutch urban planning lies in what much later came to be regarded as a form of management. In effect, he anticipated a way of working that only gradually became common practice in Dutch urban planning after the Second World War.
Recent decades have seen the publication of detailed studies of several urban planners and researchers, such as the biographies of T.K. Van Lohuizen (Arnold van der Valk, 1990), C. van Eesteren (Vincent van Rossem, 1993) and W.G. Witteveen (Noor Mens, 2007). Although more than one publication mentions Pieter Bakker Schut as an influential figure, he has never been the focus of a study. Despite his forward-looking approach, Bakker Schut’s influence on Dutch urban planning has yet to receive the attention it deserves.
This article examines Bakker Schut’s career as a manager in urban planning. The emphasis is on the positions he held in the aforementioned bodies and his contributions to the main themes of the Woningwet (National Housing Act): public housing (1901), urban planning (1921) and regional planning (1931). The aim of this biographical sketch is to draw attention to a neglected aspect of the evolution of Dutch urban planning, and at the same time provide the initial impetus for further research into Bakker Schut. It is at any rate clear from this sketch that his extensive body of work and the offices he held during his career merit such a study. So too the career and work of his son, Frits Bakker Schut, who continued in his father’s footsteps and has likewise yet to be the subject of a study.
It is impossible to study the history of Dutch public housing and urban planning in the twentieth century without repeatedly coming across the name Pieter Bakker Schut. From 1904 onwards, he was chairman of the Sociaal-Technische Vereeniging van Democratische Ingenieurs en Architecten (STV, Social-Technical Society of Democratic Engineers and Architects) and from 1918 a member of the board of the Nederlands Instituut voor Volkshuisvesting (NIV, Netherlands Institute of Housing). In that same year he was appointed director of the Dienst Stadsontwikkeling en Volkshuisvesting (DSV, Department of Urban Planning and Public Housing) in The Hague. In this capacity he was directly involved in the problems of this, by Dutch standards, big city, which was also the fastest growing city in the Randstad urban cluster in the first half of the twentieth century.
Unlike many of his contemporary directors of municipal urban planning departments, he was neither a designer nor an academic....
It is impossible to study the history of Dutch public housing and urban planning in the twentieth century without repeatedly coming across the name Pieter Bakker Schut. From 1904 onwards, he was chairman of the Sociaal-Technische Vereeniging van Democratische Ingenieurs en Architecten (STV,...