Part 4

Whither events in architectural history were tending will be seen in the following illustrations. The "Goudkantoor" at Groningen (page 60), bearing a motto and date of 1635, and a house near to it of the year 1661 (page 61), have quaint gables, curiously shaped and laden with carved stone decorations. On the walls below the same complex treatment continues, especially on the "Goudkantoor," the entrance doorway of which is emphasised by the work surrounding it. At Franeker (page 62) is an extreme development of the step gable, with the four steps supporting masses of coarsely-designed ornamentation. The heavy pediments to the windows are conspicuous, as are the many stone details. Two panels are inscribed with "ANNO 1662." With the above-mentioned may be compared the two gables at Alkmaar (page 65) which betray the same source of origin. Each is crowned by a stone pediment, and the steps have carvings resting upon them. Applied to the wall of the farthermost house, and placed centrally between the windows of the second storey, is a notable iron wall-tie of much larger size than was usual. An enlarged drawing of it is reproduced on page 64. Another variation of gable outline is illustrated from 's Hertogenbosch (page 63). In this case the stone-capped sides follow the lines of sweeping curves, and on them, facing outwardly, are little carved bunches of fruit and flowers. The front face of this building is remarkable for the use of pilasters. They are boldly carried up from bases to the head of the gable. The pillars, executed in unrelieved brickwork, have stone capitals of the Ionic order which carry an entablature. There appears the date of MDCLXXI. The bricks are 2 inches wide by 9 inches long and are laid about five courses to one foot.

It eventually came to pass that the gabled treatment, which had been the guiding principle of house design for so many generations, was given up. And with the disappearance of it there went that which had given character to the architecture of Holland. The links of the tradition were broken. The old sources of inspiration no longer served. Inherited ability and skill, originality and vigour, were being lost, and the last traces of native ideas are to be found in inconspicuous buildings such as that given from The Hague (page 66). Although hipped roofs, wide projecting cornices and other Renaissance features were employed, as is shown by the drawings from Velsen (page 67), and Zutphen (page 69), a pure Renaissance domestic architecture did not become established. When the traditional style, owning both Gothic and Renaissance motives, had ceased to hold its ground, the stream of design--which until then had flowed continuously --ebbed low, and houses became uninteresting and commonplace. Away in the country the town architecture is mirrored in the brick buildings of the numerous villages. Less pretentious in appearance, their style is well suited to the simpler conditions that there obtain; for the crowded activity of the town waterways is absent on the calm canals that wind between meadows, and give communication from village to village; on the quays life moves placidly. Spaarndam (page 71) furnishes a typical village view, with its gabled brick and white-fronted houses, screened by delicate greenery. The Ferry House, near Gennep (page 73), has more ornate gables, curved and stepped, and on the front is diaper brickwork.

There also developed a type of building peculiar to the countryside. It is shown by the many farmhouses and cottages. Their outward forms were determined by constructional principles, and added adornment was but little employed. They are unobtrusive examples of honest work, not claiming especial distinction, yet in thorough harmony with their natural environment. They were brought into being by prevailing needs, and are the local representatives of that phase of native art which is to be found in almost every country. Such village homes exist in all parts of Holland. The style of them shows little variation in the different localities. They are equally suited to the windswept Friesland landscape, the watered provinces of North and South Holland, or the beautiful country of North Brabant, with its hedgerows and woods and distant hills. Grouping, perchance, around old brick churches and sheltered by trees, as at Spaarwoude (page 68), they are pleasant and rustic to see.

Under one great thatched or tiled roof all the covered accommodation necessary for farm life is contained. One side of the building is occupied by living apartments, the remainder providing a huge barn, stalls for cattle, and other conveniences for the farmer's work. These buildings were solidly constructed on a timber basis in the manner shown by the sectional view from Halfweg (page 70), where centre and side aisles are divided from each other by the stout upright timbers. Extreme durability was the keynote and the materials were employed according to their quality. This traditional form of building, practised for many generations, continues in use to the present day. An illustration of the exterior of a similar homestead to that mentioned above, and from the same village, also appears on page 70. The great roof, hipped at each end and covered with pantiles, will be observed. Beneath the eaves are the domestic rooms, in this instance all upon the ground floor; often they extend to a second storey in the roof, which is then lighted by dormers. The cottages follow the same general constructive principles as the farms, and have similar low walls and large roofs. A lean-to was frequently added to give an additional room, and the main roof brought down over it at a less steep pitch. The roof space, valuable as a store, is in many cases reached from the exterior by a ladder. In addition to the customary steeply-pitched roofs, those of the Mansard pattern occur less frequently, as is exemplified by the drawing from Schooten (page 72).

Country work does not exhibit a great variety of building materials. Bricks, being made from the natural product and consequently readily available, were principally used for the walls. Rather than left in their normal state, they were often thinly coated with plaster on the outer face, and the lower parts, for about two feet upwards from the ground, were tarred. Houses and cottages of this description together form a characteristic group in the country architecture of Holland. They were built upon a traditional system which grew out of the accumulated experience that was transmitted from generation to generation. Customary examples are shown in the two drawings from Beek (pages 74 and 76), and by that from Broek in Waterland (page 78). The farmhouse from Brigdamme (page 75) is of a similar character; at the entrance are two stone gate-piers, dated 1622. Two influences are to be traced in the farm at Bloemendaal (page 77). The main building has the white plastered walls and large roof--which in this case comes forward to cover an open verandah--while the adjoining gable is of natural coloured bricks and more in the style of town work.

Houses with wooden walls are prevalent, especially in North Holland. Upon a low brick wall, tarred, and varying in height from 18 to 30 inches, the timber frame was erected. Boards were simply nailed to it and the framing was commonly left exposed to view on the exterior. The boarding was well coated with paint or tar for protection against the weather. A roof of thatch or tiles, well projecting at the eaves, covered the whole. There was thus provided, by simple and economical means, a type of building well suited for its purpose. The village of Broek has many examples of timber houses, such as those here given on page 79; while near by, at Monnikendam, Volendam, and on the Island of Marken, are numerous others.

An extravagant use of paint is conspicuous in the country as well as the towns. It is renewed at frequent intervals and, in the main, it is well applied. Shutters and doors and window frames, and frequently the whole house front, are freely covered with it. But the effects are not unpleasing. They give to the villages an air of gaiety and freshness. Plain schemes of colour are wisely adhered to, while throughout a district one general note will be followed. On the island of Walcheren it is apple-green and white; north of Amsterdam bluey-green and cream; while the woodwork of the house at Beek (page 81) is painted in the tones of buff that find favour in the locality of Nijmegen.

There are many other domestic features worthy of note to be seen in the villages of Holland; quaint appliances for wells, ingeniously worked (page 80), or little bridges that span dividing dykes, and connect homesteads with the highways. One from Zuiderwoude, near the edge of the Zuider Zee, is illustrated on this page. It is built of brick relieved by a little stonework. On the keystone of the arch appears the date of 1799. The wooden gates above give access to the farm and the fields. The Dutch, too, have a marked fondness for natural beauty, as is demonstrated by the skill they display in laying-out open spaces. All towns can show flower gardens and lawns, or old fortifications overlooked by gaunt watch-towers, transformed into pleasant parks. Nijmegen and Arnhem are noteworthy in this respect. Very charming, too, are the village streets, of which that at Brigdamme (page 18) is a typical instance. They are lined with many trees that afford kindly shade in summer and shelter from the wind, and gratify the eyes with traceries of green.

DIVISION II

EXTERIOR FEATURES--DOORS, WINDOWS, GABLES & ORNAMENTS

From the time when Dutch houses were built in a definite recognised style the features were always treated with skill and care. The many and crowded openings were accentuated. Doorways became imposing through the enrichment that surrounded them and windows were similarly emphasised. Panels, carvings, and ironwork decorated the walls, while the crowning gables, crow-stepped or curved, completed the richness of the buildings. Upon all these details, whether for a public building or private dwelling, great labour was expended. A careful examination of them discloses much inventive readiness and meritorious execution.

Particular prominence was given to external doorways. The manner of their treatment varied widely. They were regarded as more than mere ways of access and upon them the best skill of the craftsmen was frequently concentrated. A personal note would be added by the introduction of the owner's arms or initials, the date of the work, or some quaint conceit of peculiar and subtle meaning. Among the examples extant, those of the early period incline to greatest simplicity. They were based on the current forms that were employed in ecclesiastical and civic architecture. The openings are spacious and are surrounded by mouldings. The arches at the heads are pointed, trefoil, or elliptic shapes. When there are label-mouldings above they follow the curves of the arches and support or surround the arms, panels, or other decorations.

The doorway at Delft (page 87) is a good example of work dictated by Gothic influences. From carved stops at each side spring the simple mouldings that extend round the opening. It is surmounted by a label, near the centre of which is a three-sided space, enclosed by mouldings and filled by a winged cherub's head carved in relief, while the label is terminated by a finial. The wooden door is noteworthy. It is composed of six boards and upon the outer face of each are shallow grooves running continuously from top to bottom. Projecting nailheads arranged in vertical lines, together with other ironwork, give further interesting ornamentation. Another doorway from the same town (page 88) is built of stone and moulded bricks. The space at the head, contained within a trefoil arch, has carved upon it a shield--lacking armorial bearings--supporters, and a scroll with the date of 1547. The semi-circular arch which surrounds the trefoil is one of the series that repeat across the building. That other early type of house, peculiar for its windowed ground floor front constructed in wood, such as is given from Veere on page 44, had its entrance doorway made with three plain stout timbers, one at each side and one across the top as a lintel. An elaboration of the simple wooden doorway occurs at Leiden (page 89). It is crowned by mouldings, below which appears an ogee arch shaped in wood. The parti-coloured effect of the door itself is achieved by the application of contrasting tints of paint.

The circular arch followed the pointed although simultaneously a modified form of the latter, of which that from Haarlem (page 89) is an instance, continued to be used. Of circular-arched doorways there are endless examples which were erected in a manner that became general and customary. They were usually built in stone and bricks. Those from Leiden (below), Flushing (page 91), and Leeuwarden (page 86) are characteristic. The Leiden doorway of 1615, with moulded opening and carved archstones, is doubtless the earliest of the three and most nearly allied to the work of the preceding century. The two remaining examples incline to later influences, particularly to be observed in the enrichment of the jambs.

Changing taste brought a new treatment to external doorways. They were affected by the same forces that altered the outward character of late sixteenth and seventeenth-century houses. Renaissance detail gradually became established and doorways of the seventeenth-century were frankly treated in a Classic way, rich in pilasters, capitals, friezes, pediments and mouldings, with an especial preference for an adapted form of the Ionic order. Stone was now almost exclusively used for this feature, unaccompanied by brick. "Delvitt's Poort" at Woudrichem (page 85) shows a rather advanced development for the period of 1611 to which it belongs. The whole of it is painted, with the carved details picked out in different colours. Two doorways illustrated here are well designed and proportioned. They are distinguished by the elaboration that appears at their heads. Upon the frieze immediately above the arch of the Kampen example (page 93) will be seen the inscription and date of 1665, over which is a broken pediment surmounted by particularly well-rendered armorial bearings carved in stone. The frieze at Leeuwarden (page 89) is similarly inscribed, the date in this case being 1675, while within the heavily moulded pediment is a coat of arms. Less complicated is the doorway from Leiden of 1655 (page 96). It is crowned by mouldings and decorated below by festoons in relief. The above will show the fashion of the time, tending towards correctness in design, with details carefully thought out and well executed.

Many eighteenth-century doorways were unduly florid and may well be described as rococo. That from Marssum in Friesland (below), belonging to the year 1713, is of this kind. The overladen ornament and peculiarities of design suggest the unreality of a poor stage-setting, rather than serious architecture; while the incongruity of the work can only be appreciated by an inspection of the original, situated as it is among cottages in a quiet village street. Later in the century French influence was predominant. Details, such as are noticeable in the Arnhem doorway (page 94), were based on the Louis XV. style which not only affected the work of the towns but permeated into the heart of the country. The small cottage doors and doorways in villages such as Broek have all the attributes of the then prevailing mode.

The wooden doors were much enriched either with applied ironwork, or mouldings and panels. Metal locks, bolts, hinges and nails are conspicuous in the early specimens. The use of ironwork on the door from Dordrecht (page 95) is carried to an extreme degree; but, be it noted, all the fittings have a practical purpose. It was only after needs had been provided for that embellishment was added, discernible in the shaping of the lock-plates and hinges and the arrangement of the nailheads. The centre of the more recent example from Haarlem (page 95) is occupied by a large sunk panel surrounded by mouldings, a section of which is given. A good piece of woodcarving is that appearing on the lintel, having for its subject a ship sailing on rough water.

Windows of houses were almost always square-headed. They appear so in existing examples belonging to the Gothic period. The traceries and pointed heads, usual in early civic buildings, were rarely adopted for house windows, although arched spaces, filled with tracery, were not uncommonly built over them. A fine series of such window-heads is to be seen on the stone front of the "Scotch House" at Veere (page 97); there are others at Kampen and on a house in the Groenmarkt at Dordrecht. Except in cases where the openings were small, they were divided vertically by mullions and transversely by cross-bars. The lower windows were closed by wooden shutters. Two examples, from Nijmegen and Dordrecht (page 99), both of Gothic design and of sixteenth century workmanship, are illustrated. The Dordrecht shutter is constructed of beautifully grained pieces of oak, jointed and pegged together.

Late Gothic windows have also pointed and elliptical arches over the heads unenriched by decoration. They were customarily built in brickwork, with the window spaces flush, or set back from the face of the walling. Pointed arches ceased to be generally used after the coming of the Renaissance. The elliptical shape, however, continued, and the establishment of the circular arch was but a short and natural step in development. These two forms obtained for many succeeding years. Instances of either type are presented in the drawing from Zwolle (page 101), and innumerable others are shown by the illustrations in this volume. They were not given up until displaced by classic pediments, or the overhead feature was altogether abandoned. The gabled front at Gorinchem (page 103), built in stone and brick, has circular arches appearing over the windows. The enclosed spaces are richly decorated by stone carvings, and the character of the work seems to be advanced for the period to which it apparently belongs. Much interesting sculpture is also distributed over the gable and walls of this building.

Windows were first glazed with leaded lights. Small squares of glass, as at Dordrecht (page 98), or diamond panes were used. But during the seventeenth century the employment of wooden bars became universal and leadwork went out of fashion. The openings were divided centrally by transoms, the lower windows receding inwards considerably more than the upper ones.

Wooden shutters, opening outwards, were still customary. They were occasionally large enough to cover the whole window, but usually only the lower half was furnished with them. Seventeenth-century shutters are not comparable, in point of carved enrichment, with those of Gothic times; the woodwork, frequently devoid of ornament, is fastened to the window-frames by iron strap-hinges, and fitted with bolts and catches. They are, however, brightly painted and are interesting in consequence, giving colour to the architectural groups. Many harmonious schemes are to be observed; green and white; white, green and red; yellow and black; red and black; and numerous others. The coloured drawing from Nijmegen (opposite) shows shutters painted in red and black; while several specimens, from North and South Holland, are given (pages 98 to 100). The glazing of windows was first enclosed by casements, with hinges to open and shut. After casements came sash windows, which were substituted for the older form. There are many shown in the illustrations. Those from Flushing (page 105), appearing on a house dated 1625, differ somewhat from the usual type, being surrounded by mouldings and carvings. Dormer windows also, as has already been stated, became much-developed features during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Three characteristic specimens are given: two from Kampen, of the years 1626 and 1634, and a later dormer, from Marssum, belonging to the eighteenth century, all shown on page 102.

The distinguishing gables--so often mentioned, and intimately associated with house development--exhibit infinite varieties of treatment. Between the early stepped shapes, and the fantastic outlines of later days, there is an innumerable succession. They followed the trend of design prevalent at the time of their erection. Thus, the two gables, from Kampen (page 104) and Dordrecht (page 107), are in keeping with the current forms of the late Gothic period. They are both built of stone and decorated on the face with sunk panels and carvings. The Kampen gable has pinnacles rising from the coping of the steps, usual features in work of the time; while the twisted finials at Dordrecht, associated with the first quarter of the sixteenth century, are worthy of notice.

It is impossible to consider here in detail the numerous vicissitudes through which the development of the gable passed during the many years that Gothic and Renaissance motives were acting together as guiding influences. Roughly and briefly, mediæval character was observed in respect to construction and general management of masses--evident by the stepped and curved gables--with a marked tendency to Classic feeling in the handling of details. Work was carried out wholly in brick, or in brick relieved by stone. Among the large number of different outlines that are in evidence, those based on the original stepped form show predominantly. But the spirit of the times is discernible in the culminating pediments, mouldings, and stone decorations. Four typical gables, all sketched in North Holland, are illustrated (pages 106 and 109). A good example of shaping, achieved by the use of oppositive curves, is that from Arnhem (page 108), and the stonework of the copings extends to the strapwork ornament.

Two gables from Leiden (page 109) are well carried out in brickwork. How effectively window-heads and copings were handled, yet withal in a perfectly workmanlike way, is demonstrated by the larger drawing; the brickwork is flush and obliquely tailed into the horizontal courses of the wall.

Long sweeping curves were much employed in the shaping of later gables. The house opposite the bridge in the Franeker illustration (page 113) has such a gable, and it is dated 1735. Another, from Amsterdam (page 110), has similar characteristics. Both are enriched with stone representations of fruit and flowers, vases and festoons, all quite in the spirit of late seventeenth and eighteenth-century work.

The sides of the gables of farmhouses and country cottages, straight and unshaped, are not uncommonly protected by barge-boards. The two timbers, running from base to apex, may have mouldings worked at the edge of them; or the undersides are diversified by repeating curves, with pendants appearing at the lower ends. Both methods are figured in detail in drawings 1, 2, and 4 on page 111. Fascia-boards, applied to overhanging stories of wooden houses, are similarly decorated; two are exemplified in numbers 6 and 7. The wooden finials, which are planted on the outer faces of the gables at their highest points, are variously shaped and perforated, and the details numbered 1, 2, 3 and 5 give four examples of them.