Tag: Façades of The Hague

Façades of The Hague #167

Façade of a block of two flats, Dunne Bierkade.

The house was built in the 1880s in an eclectic style with exceptionally varied decorative brickwork in the lunettes above the windows and doors.

The building is a municipal monument.

Bertus Pieters

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #166

Façade of a former mansion, Korte Voorhout. It was built around 1700 in a representative but sober Louis XIV style, in the typical Dutch brick variant. The round tympanum at the top was added between 1855 and 1867.

Around 1900 the envoy of the Russian Empire lived here. Later on it housed the municipal education office and its alderman until November 1940.

After the Second World War it became the seat of the provincial government of South Holland until this moved to its new residence in 1975.

Today it houses a primary and secondary school.

Bertus Pieters

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #165

What is this? A work of art? A bench? A gigantic ashtray? Who designed it? Who made it? It is in the corridor in between Rijnstraat and Oranjebuitensingel in front of the IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) office.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t add to the atmosphere in the corridor.

As soon as i tried to make a picture of the object security guards came up to me and told me that it was forbidden to make any photographs.

The last time i experienced something like this was a long time ago in a faraway country.

However i told them that i just wanted to make pictures of the public work of art (they didn’t know if it was an artwork, by the way).

After some discussion they allowed me to make pictures, but made sure that i didn’t take pictures of the buildings in the corridor.

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #164

When i moved into a room near the Leyenburg Hospital in Leyweg, The Hague, for my studies at the Royal Academy in 1977, there was only one tram stop and one bus stop.

If I had  a flat tire or the weather was too bad, the number 6 tram would bring me all the way to the city centre.

Today the hospital and the new housing developments around it are served by a public transport hub with two tram lines and three bus lines. 

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #163

Block of apartments, a state monument, Zeekant corner Zeeweg. Designed by the Scheveningen architect C.J.M. van Duijne, the block was built in 1907, more or less in Art Nouveau style.

The second apartment from the left housed the guesthouse Walda from 1937 to 1942.

It was run by Waldemar Nod (1908-1945) and Rika van der Lans (1891-1945) and it seems to have been flourishing.

Their guests were tourists, many of whom were German.

During the first days of the German attack Dutch soldiers were interned in their guesthouse, but after the Dutch surrender German soldiers came to stay with them, with whom they seem to have got on well.

This in spite of Waldemar and Rika being a mixed couple; Rika was white and Waldemar was black Surinamese, which was very unusual and even frowned on at the time.

The couple had to move to Stevinstraat in 1942 due to the building by the Germans of the Atlantic Wall along the coast.

At that address they had Jews hiding as well as at their later address in Pijnboomstraat, but they were betrayed.

Rika succumbed in Ravensbrück concentration camp in February 1945.

Waldemar was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp from where he was evacuated to a ship in April 1945.

The ship sank and most evacuees drowned but Waldemar swam to the shore, where he was shot dead by SS soldiers.

Annejet van der Zijl wrote the book Sonny Boy (2004) about the couple and their only son Waldy Nod (1929-2015, nicknamed Sonny Boy).

The film with the same title by Maria Peters was released in 2011.

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #161

Long facade of an apartment block, Valkenboskade, in between Copernicuslaan and Frederik Ruyschstraat.

Between 1875 and 1914 the population of The Hague tripled from 100,000 to 300,000 inhabitants.

The Industrial Revolution attracted many people from the countryside to towns and cities like The Hague.

The municipality of The Hague simply needed more land to accommodate its new inhabitants.

In 1902 parts of the then rural municipality of Loosduinen were annexed (today Loosduinen is a district of The Hague).

Plans for a new residential area (today’s Valkenboskwartier) were already in place, and construction began in 1903.

This extremely long block of porch houses, characteristic of the period, was built between 1910 and 1915.

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #160

Some buildings evoke ambiguous feelings.

They are clearly well thought out and may even have their aesthetic principles, but still they lack charisma and amiability.

You wouldn’t miss them if they suddenly disappeared, and that might even be just as well.

In fact all of this applies to this office block of the 1990s on Nieuwe Duinweg at the corner of Nieuwe Parklaan.

In its side gable you can see a nice reflection of the Nieuwe Badkapel (New Bath Chapel) at the other side of Nieuwe Parklaan.

The office block was built in a post-modern style, with a shiny exterior cladding, lots of glass around the entrance and even some colour.

Clearly they wanted to spare the local residents any modernist concrete brutalism.

Instead they gave them a reflection of the luxurious surroundings, but the result is a building that doesn’t really capture your heart.

It has no character and it won’t be missed.

The good news is that this building is now gone.

It will be transformed into a new luxurious apartment block for the more affluent among us, as you can see in the last two recent pictures.

Whether the new building will be a more charismatic one remains to be seen…

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020 except for the last two pictures which were taken in May 2023.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #159

Façade of the Roman Catholic Willibrorduskapel (Chapel of Saint Willibrord), Oude Molstraat.

It was built in 1928 by Jos Duijnstee (born 1881, died probably 1945), an architect who designed a number of buildings in various styles during the period between the two world wars (including the short extension of the Hague Passage), but who has since been forgotten.

As a non-believer it is one of the few religious places  where I spoke to a congregation during the time I worked for both The Hague Refugee Council and for a foundation dedicated to supporting asylum seekers who had exhausted most or all of their legal remedies.

I don’t remember very much about what I said or about the discussions I had with the people, but I was well received.

The then Bishop of Rotterdam (The Hague is part of the diocese of Rotterdam) had himself apologised for not being present.

We had met before at the foundation I was working for, and he was very interested in the work we did and a sympathetic person as far as I remember.

One wishes he had been more helpful to the victims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

But anyway, during my secular sermon about  the realities of seeking asylum, he had a present given to me: a bottle of good Schiedam jenever (not to be confused with the rubbish Anglo-Saxons call “gin”) with two glasses.

I still have the glasses, but i don’t drink jenever any more.

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #158

Villa, Riouwstraat corner Koninginnegracht, built in 1890 in a so-called eclectic style.

“Eclectic” in late 19th century architecture usually means a mishmash of neo-styles, in this case neoclassical and neo-Renaissance.

Designed by either Johan Metzelaar (1818-1897) and/or his son Willem Metzelaar (1849-1918), it was commissioned by the engineer  J.A. Ceuben – an historically completely unknown person.

From 1883 onward Willem Metzelaar assisted his father and in 1886 he succeeded him as chief-engineer at the Ministry of Justice.

It is possible that his father took on small scale commissions after 1886 and that he designed this villa all on his own.

He also designed the Koepelgevangenis (domed prison) in Breda.

Together with his son he designed the prison complex in Veenhuizen.

His son also designed many district courts, amongst others the former district court at Prinsegracht 45 (on the corner of Lange Lombardstraat) in The Hague, which is now an apartment building.

The villa in the Riouwstraat now houses a childcare centre.

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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Façades of The Hague #157

Esteemed International Criminal Court!

In 2016, you received a work of art designed by artist Navid Nuur (1976) called The Gift.

The work stands in the public space in front of the entrance to your Court.

The work was gifted to you by the Dutch State to welcome you in our midst.

The Dutch State represents the Dutch people who may need you one day (one never knows what the future may bring)

Nuur made the work in such a way that it can be viewed from all sides, whereby that possibility should in principle be seen as a commandment, since a sculpture should generally be able to be viewed all the way around (by way of comparison: you don’t want to look only at the underside of a painting, do you?).

Until recently, you could; but to my dismay, there are now crowd barriers and “no entry” signs in front of the steps for your entrance.

That an institution like yours unfortunately cannot do without protective measures is perfectly clear.

However, this was also clear when your building – not so long ago – was designed and built in accordance with your wishes and those of the local authorities.

In good conscience, you might wonder whether someone who wants harm will be stopped by “no entry” signs and some crowd barriers; that applies to loners as much as to crowds.

Your building, which tends to exude great power anyway, certainly does not gain a more sympathetic appearance as a result.

Surely international law would benefit from being more friendly; after all, it seeks to do justice to the actual and potential victims of political and military arbitrariness, who should also be able to recognise themselves in your Court.

It is possible that the prohibition signs were erected on the advice or even insistence of the Hague authorities, but that does not diminish the authoritarian aura this gives your court.

That a Court needs to exude some prestige is obvious; however, authoritarianism should be avoided, because that is precisely what is represented by the persons sued at your Court.

In other words, ensure that the steps in front of the Court become freely accessible again to all those who want to admire your building more closely and, in particular, to see Navid Nuur’s The Gift, because it is not only a gift to you, but also to the public. 

© Villa Next Door 2023

All pictures were taken in March 2020, except for the last two pictures, which were taken in January 2023.

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #146 onwards: https://villanextdoor3.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #72 – 145: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

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