DOI issue:
Nr. 212 (October, 1914)
DOI article:Curtiss, Adelaide: Some examples of the brick architecture of Holland influencing American building
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43456#0429
Some Examples of the Brick Architecture of Holland
VLEESCHHAL (HOUSE OF THE BUTCHERS) IN HAARLEM
impressive feature among the various buildings of
the town. It is true that, brick being the only
material that the country afforded, Holland could
not rear the elaborate and beautiful constructions
that the other countries of Europe brought forth.
This brick construction, however, as splendidly
instanced among many of the churches of Northern
Italy, has a rugged charm, a distinction all its own.
The lofty tower of Utrecht Cathedral, for instance,
worn and time-stained as it is, its grandeur made
still more imposing, however, because of its iso-
lated position, almost the entire body of the nave
having been destroyed in the latter part of the
seventeenth century during a great storm—this
tower, spared by the tempest, is full of pictur-
esqueness and majesty. The rugged masses of
masonry, also, which loom up above, and form a
part of the “Groote Kerk” in such cities as Dor-
drecht, Nymegen, Delft, Arnheim, Rotterdam
and The Hague; the various towers overlooking
the town of Monnikendam, one of the famous
dead cities of the Zuyder Zee—all these have
an indescribable charm.
Certainly this old ecclesiastical and civic archi-
tecture of Holland has a wonderful fascination, a
magical charm about it that attracts the visitor.
It may be the green, low-lying landscape which
forms the background of the picture; it may be
the haze which lies over it all, or perhaps the
thought of Holland’s splendid history passing
through the traveller’s mind, which so delights him;
but whatever it is, a vision of these old towns and
villages seems to remain in the memory, never to
be forgotten. The iconoclastic zeal of the people
may have destroyed, in the interior of their great
Gothic churches, much that can never be replaced,
but at least the exterior remains in all its sturdy
and rugged charm. One writer says of these
grand old buildings:
“The Hollanders are accused of mere apishness
in employing the Gothic style, and of downright
dulness in apprehending its import and beauty.
Yet a man who has found that bit of Rotterdam
which beats Venice; who has seen, from under
Delft’s lindens on a summer evening, the image of
the Oude Kerk’s leaning tower in the still canal,
and has gone to bed, perchance to awake in the
moonlight while the Nieuwe Kerk’s many bells are
xcv
VLEESCHHAL (HOUSE OF THE BUTCHERS) IN HAARLEM
impressive feature among the various buildings of
the town. It is true that, brick being the only
material that the country afforded, Holland could
not rear the elaborate and beautiful constructions
that the other countries of Europe brought forth.
This brick construction, however, as splendidly
instanced among many of the churches of Northern
Italy, has a rugged charm, a distinction all its own.
The lofty tower of Utrecht Cathedral, for instance,
worn and time-stained as it is, its grandeur made
still more imposing, however, because of its iso-
lated position, almost the entire body of the nave
having been destroyed in the latter part of the
seventeenth century during a great storm—this
tower, spared by the tempest, is full of pictur-
esqueness and majesty. The rugged masses of
masonry, also, which loom up above, and form a
part of the “Groote Kerk” in such cities as Dor-
drecht, Nymegen, Delft, Arnheim, Rotterdam
and The Hague; the various towers overlooking
the town of Monnikendam, one of the famous
dead cities of the Zuyder Zee—all these have
an indescribable charm.
Certainly this old ecclesiastical and civic archi-
tecture of Holland has a wonderful fascination, a
magical charm about it that attracts the visitor.
It may be the green, low-lying landscape which
forms the background of the picture; it may be
the haze which lies over it all, or perhaps the
thought of Holland’s splendid history passing
through the traveller’s mind, which so delights him;
but whatever it is, a vision of these old towns and
villages seems to remain in the memory, never to
be forgotten. The iconoclastic zeal of the people
may have destroyed, in the interior of their great
Gothic churches, much that can never be replaced,
but at least the exterior remains in all its sturdy
and rugged charm. One writer says of these
grand old buildings:
“The Hollanders are accused of mere apishness
in employing the Gothic style, and of downright
dulness in apprehending its import and beauty.
Yet a man who has found that bit of Rotterdam
which beats Venice; who has seen, from under
Delft’s lindens on a summer evening, the image of
the Oude Kerk’s leaning tower in the still canal,
and has gone to bed, perchance to awake in the
moonlight while the Nieuwe Kerk’s many bells are
xcv