Artikelen

• Beschouwingen rond de huizencollectie van de Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser

  The private Hendrick de Keyser Association, founded in 1918, now owns approximately 350 premises on the basis of which further study of the Dutch dwelling is possible. Research was not the object of the Association; its main concern was to save the premises by acquisition, restoration and responsible management. In the first decade the Association acquired 62 premises, which were restored in an austere manner. In 1928 all the houses appeared full-page in a memorial book containing 14 different contributions: Oud-Hollandse bouwkunst en haar behoud. In 1939 the Association owned 85 premises; after an introduction they were described chronologically by F.A.J. Vermeulen in the subsequent jubilee book of which reprints appeared in 1943 and 1944.

  After the Second World War the collection steadily increased to 170 in 1968, which induced monument conservers R. Meischke and H.J. Zantkuijl to write Het Nederlandse Woonhuis van 1300-1800. A typology of houses was made on the basis of the internal structure, paying particular attention to the woodwork of the houses, such as the timber frames, wooden beams and lower fronts. Side rooms, entresols, upstairs flats and rear annexes were described and for the first time types like the broad and the double house were discussed.

  After 1969 the collection of houses doubled, which gave rise to a four-volume publication, started in 1993, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Association, and completed in 2000. Each volume consists of a description of related landscapes and an approximately similar number of houses. Each volume by itself is autonomous and includes a general, often thematically coloured introduction. The structure of the building trade was chosen as a main theme in an attempt at surveying architecture and technology as a unity. Through building-historical and dendrochronological research it is now possible to date the woodwork accurately, something that used to be so elusive.

  For the new publication the old team of the Amsterdam Bureau for the conservation of monuments was available again: Zantkuijl, Raue and Meischke, together with the young art historian Paul Rosenberg who described each house once again and added historical data. The author works out a number of conclusions in the article, such as the organisation of the building trade, the role of carpenters and bricklayers, the influence of commissioners, the guilds and the urban building practice, the trade in building materials and the role of qualified architects.

  The private Hendrick de Keyser Association, founded in 1918, now owns approximately 350 premises on the basis of which further study of the Dutch dwelling is possible. Research was not the object of the Association; its main concern was to save the premises by acquisition, restoration and responsible management. In the first decade the Association acquired 62 premises, which were restored in an austere manner. In 1928 all the houses appeared full-page in a memorial book containing 14 different contributions: Oud-Hollandse bouwkunst en haar behoud. In 1939 the Association owned 85 premises; after an introduction they were described chronologically by F.A.J. Vermeulen in the subsequent jubilee book of which reprints appeared in 1943 and 1944.

  After the Second World War the collection steadily increased to 170 in 1968, which induced monument conservers R. Meischke and H.J. Zantkuijl to write Het Nederlandse Woonhuis van 1300-1800. A typology of houses was...

  The private Hendrick de Keyser Association, founded in 1918, now owns approximately 350 premises on the basis of which further study of the Dutch dwelling is possible. Research was not the object of the Association; its main concern was to save the premises by acquisition, restoration and...

  Ruud Meischke

  213-225

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• Oudegracht 288 in Utrecht: de groei van een middeleeuws koopmanshuis

  In 1996 a building-historical study was made of Oudegracht 288. The present building mass was created in three phases. The oldest, one-layer brick phase was dated in approximately 1325, because of the combination of composite joisting and an attic without parapet. No traces of a kitchen fireplace dating from this phase were found, so that it is assumed that a wooden rear annex belonged to it.

  In the second phase, roughly around 1400, a cellar is added under the front part of the house, probably with a wharf cellar and the house is provided with a truss roof with parapet. The rear annex is rebuilt in brick and provided with an entresol.

  In the third phase, dated in approximately 1500 because of the application of timber corbels, all the woodwork is replaced. Two side extensions are also added, whereby the rear extension and the rear annex get cellars. The main house acquires an upper floor, a new truss roof with principal rafters partly placed in the parapet and a loft. In less than 200 years' time the surface area for storage became six times larger through these additions.

  Consequently, Oudegracht 288 is a classic example of the development of an average house with some storage space into an average merchant's house. The method of enlargement in depth, width and height are typical for medieval house building in Utrecht. An important aspect here is that the site of these types of houses initially covered the full depth of the building block, in Utrecht usually about 100 metres. Thus in a few centuries an uninterrupted ribbon of merchant's houses arose along Oudegracht. The layout of these merchant's houses is strikingly similar, regardless of their external appearance.

  Because of the possibility to unload merchandise from the ship to the wharf cellar, the ground floor in Utrecht hardly needed to be used for storage. The upper floors and attics, just as the cellars, were almost exclusively used for storage. The residents lived in the rear part of the house. The calculation of the surface area of the storage space used in this study seems to be a good method to compare merchant's houses in various towns with divergent urban-planning situations and therefore different possibilities for enlargement.

  In 1996 a building-historical study was made of Oudegracht 288. The present building mass was created in three phases. The oldest, one-layer brick phase was dated in approximately 1325, because of the combination of composite joisting and an attic without parapet. No traces of a kitchen fireplace dating from this phase were found, so that it is assumed that a wooden rear annex belonged to it.

  In the second phase, roughly around 1400, a cellar is added under the front part of the house, probably with a wharf cellar and the house is provided with a truss roof with parapet. The rear annex is rebuilt in brick and provided with an entresol.

  In the third phase, dated in approximately 1500 because of the application of timber corbels, all the woodwork is replaced. Two side extensions are also added, whereby the rear extension and the rear annex get cellars. The main house acquires an upper floor, a new truss roof with principal rafters partly placed in the parapet and a...

  In 1996 a building-historical study was made of Oudegracht 288. The present building mass was created in three phases. The oldest, one-layer brick phase was dated in approximately 1325, because of the combination of composite joisting and an attic without parapet. No traces of a kitchen...

  Sanne Alberts

  226-237

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• Het Straatje van Johannes Vermeer: Nieuwe Langendijk 22-26? Een kunsthistorische visie op een archeologisch en bouwhistorisch onderzoek

  Remarkably little has been written about the popular yet unassuming painting The Little Street (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). This painting shows a group of houses in Delft. The large house at the right hand side is analyzed in great detail and yields precise architectural information. The building just escaped the great Delft fire of 1536 (ill. 10). The facade of this house had a wooden structure. The masonry is well observed as is the pattern of cracks in the walls, which could not have been known to a layman. The gutter leading water across the street towards us indicates that the house stood along a canal, not along a regular street.

  Crucial information is also yielded by another house, which we can see towards the middle background, having a position which is highly unusual in terms of real estate alignment (ill. 5 and 6). Analysis of the roof structure of nr. 22 showed that once it had a lean-to side room. This combination of elements points towards certain possible locations along certain canals within Delft.

  In 1982 the engineering student Wim Weve (since 1987 architectural historian for the town of Delft) was the first to propose the identification of Vermeer's Little Street and the site at Nieuwe Langendijk nrs. 22-26. These very buildings were carefully studied by a Delft Polytechnic university team in the spring and early summer of 1982, before, during and after demolition. An extremely detailed three volume report on this excavation was published by Van Haaften in 1987 at the Delft Polytechnic.

  The present article fully accepts their identification which has not become known let alone accepted in art history circles. Finally a set of arguments, some of them new ones, offers a tapestry of detailed proof for this identification. The English language readers are referred to the discussion in my forthcoming chapter in Wayne Franits (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer. Cambridge University Press, 2001. A full bilingual text is on internet, http://www.xs4all.nl/~kalden/

  Remarkably little has been written about the popular yet unassuming painting The Little Street (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). This painting shows a group of houses in Delft. The large house at the right hand side is analyzed in great detail and yields precise architectural information. The building just escaped the great Delft fire of 1536 (ill. 10). The facade of this house had a wooden structure. The masonry is well observed as is the pattern of cracks in the walls, which could not have been known to a layman. The gutter leading water across the street towards us indicates that the house stood along a canal, not along a regular street.

  Crucial information is also yielded by another house, which we can see towards the middle background, having a position which is highly unusual in terms of real estate alignment (ill. 5 and 6). Analysis of the roof structure of nr. 22 showed that once it had a lean-to side room. This combination of elements points towards certain...

  Remarkably little has been written about the popular yet unassuming painting The Little Street (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). This painting shows a group of houses in Delft. The large house at the right hand side is analyzed in great detail and yields precise architectural information. The...

  Kees Kaldenbach

  238-249

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