The Netherlands

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A Brief Survey of the Influence of the Prairie School in the Netherlands

by Klaas Vermaas

At the beginning of the twentieth century (already a golden age for Frank Lloyd Wright), architecture in the Netherlands was still influenced by historical styles and examples.

But the most famous Dutch architect of the time, Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934), is now considered a precursor of modern architecture. His approach to design moved increasingly away from literal historical inspirations. The resulting designs were ever more rational and sober in plan, structure and material. Prairie School architects Purcell and Feick visited Berlage on their European tour in 1906. On Purcell’s invitation, Berlage in turn visited the United States in 1911. Here Berlage became familiar with the work of Sullivan and Wright, which he introduced in the Netherlands in lectures and writings. Also at this time appeared the portfolio publication of Wright’s work by German publisher Wasmuth. Wright’s influence on Berlage can be seen in his last building, the Municipal Museum (Gemeentemuseum) of The Hague, finished after his death in 1935.

But around the time of the First World War a new generation of young architects considered his work too static, even dull. Out of this new generation evolved two radically different architectural movements. Their differences seem to reflect the opposing characteristics present in the American Prairie School style: machine-age form vs. Arts and Crafts sensibility. The former was represented by both the “De Stijl” group and the “Haagse School” (The Hague being the home of its principal architects). The wildly expressionist Amsterdam school represented the latter.

De Stijl, named after a Dutch magazine founded in 1917, was a specific group of artists (like painter Piet Mondrian) and architects (like Jan Wils and Robert van ‘t Hoff). Initially the architects were inspired by the free flowing spaces, bold but broken-up masses and clean lines of Wright’s designs. Later the focus shifted towards dissolving the mass of a building by reducing it to planes and lines that loosely enclosed space. This approach is most clearly represented in the work of Gerrit Rietveld and his Schroeder House in Utrecht of 1924. These later architects of De Stijl found their artistic views matched with new technical developments such as reinforced concrete, cantilever construction, and watertight flat roofs. Eventually De Stijl would dissolve when International Modernism and functionalism matured in the early 1930s.

The Amsterdam School was initially a small group of architects practising primarily in that city. After the First World War, a huge number of civic works and large well-funded housing projects for workers was started by the socialist city administration of Amsterdam. They were basically given an enormous blank canvas to express a new style for a better, more equal society. The architects of the Amsterdam School translated this into a wild and sensuous expressionism sculpted with brick and wood into structures and constructions which still seem impossibly complex today. To them, the Prairie School characteristics of organically developed (exterior) masses and their often severe looks, combined with the craftsmanship of the stylised ornaments inspired by nature made its buildings seem mysterious, romantic and yet absolutely part of a new age. The unofficial spokesperson for the Amsterdam School was architect and publisher Hendrik Theodorus Wijdeveld (1885-1987). He popularized the work of the Prairie School and especially Wright trough his famous “Wendingen” magazine. (Wijdeveld brought out seven special issues devoted to Wright, which in 1925 were collected into a single volume entitled, “The Life-Work of the American Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.”)

The Amsterdam School was never a formally organized group, however. After the early death of its most talented architect, Michel de Klerk (1884-1923), and because of reduced funding for its buildings, the formal language became less extreme. It eventually merged with the less radical remnants of the De Stijl group to become known as “Zakelijk Expressionisme”, a more disciplined and commercial strain of expressionism. Built in bold cubic masses of brick, decorated with continuous bands of concrete or natural stone, its facades dissolved in vertical brick piers under steeply hipped Dutch tile roofs, this style shared many formal characteristics with the Prairie School. The key proponent of this style was Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974), himself widely imitated by other Dutch architects and especially famous for his design of the Hilversum City Hall. This style was immensely popular in the 1920s and 1930s until it was made obsolete by the demand for a more rational and less labour intensive way to reconstruct the war-damaged country after the Second World War.

Of course, there never was a “pure” Prairie School style practiced in the Netherlands: certain key characteristics translated differently to the Netherlands because of its climate (eaves were smaller, roofs steeper), material tradition (less stucco or full wood cladding, Dutch tile roofs) and construction methods (load-bearing brick instead of wood frames). Also, most of the Dutch architects did not really share the spiritual ideals the American Prairie School architects sought to embody. The formation of an indigenous non-academic American style and the search for an expression of the ideal of democracy were rather theoretical to Dutch architects. So apart from its treatment of indoor and outdoor space, the influence of the Prairie School on Dutch architecture was temporary and of an aesthetic nature. But even on this level, the combination of the exciting new machine aesthetic with the safely traditional building types produced many wonderful designs.

Some Comments on Individual Architects

Robert van 't Hoff (1887-1979) is best known for his Verloop and Henny houses, the latter being directly inspired by Wright. It was one of the first concrete built houses in the Netherlands. Van ’t Hoff visited Wright in Chicago in 1914. He only built a few houses in Huis ter Heide after his return to Holland.

Jan Wils (1891-1972), who had worked in Berlage’s office, designed the 1928 Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, which shows near-literal Wrightian ornament, including the large planters on pedestals. According to a recent monograph on his work, he was one of the few architects to admit freely to being influenced by Wright. This prompted his colleagues to dub him “Frank Lloyd Wils”. In the beginning of his career in 1917 and 1918 he produced some unrealised designs that could have been almost American in origin.

Another important and rather literal follower was Hendrik Wouda (1885-1946). He was a furniture designer as well as an architect, and had an interest in the English and American Arts and Crafts movement as well as in the more abstract forms of De Stijl. His villa “De Luifel” in Wassenaar (1924) may have been inspired by Wright’s Robie house.

The work of architect Harry Elte (1880-1944), although very much part of the Amsterdam School, shows a clear link to the Wrightian Prairie School. He did a lot of work for the Jewish community and his design for a synagogue in Amsterdam is certainly his best. This building shows a clear link with Wright’s more cubic buildings like the Larkin Building. Tragically the Jewish Elte died in a Nazi concentration camp.

Johannes Bernardus (Han) van Loghem (1881-1940) is of interest because he is probably unique in using not only the formal language of the Prairie School House, but also its wood frame construction methods. His Scheltema House built 1920 in Haarlem, can even be considered an interpretation of the Foursquare house. Later his designs became far more functionalist in character. His Zijlstra house of 1933 in Enschede completely fits within the white stucco glass and steel world of the International Style.

Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974) started out in the vein of Berlage and the Amsterdam School but soon developed a very personal style. His work inspired many Dutch followers like C.B. van der Tak in Amersfoort and S.J. Bouma in Groningen. Both held positions as city architects, as Dudok did in Hilversum. Dudok’s work seems clearly influenced by the Prairie School but it is hard to point out any literal citations. It is especially the clean lined and often horizontal massing, his love for the elongated brick (“Hilversum sized”) used without vertical joints and his corner window solutions, which point to the Prairie School. In his book, “Purcell and Elmslie, Prairie Progressive Architects”, David Gebhard suggests that the work of Purcell and Elmslie, rather than Wright, was a source of influence for his most famous building, Hilversum City Hall of 1930.

Joop Crouwel, Jr. (1885-1962) is usually placed among the architects of the Amsterdam School. His work shows great variety, however, because he worked for the State Building Office (“Rijksgebouwendienst”). At the time this organisation was entrusted with the design of government offices, post offices, telephone exchanges, schools and university buildings all over the country. This often demanded a varied use of style to suit the location. Therefore among Crouwel’s many works there are also examples of Prairie School influence, such as his use of higher and lower hipped roofs meeting at a 90-degree angle, and his use of vertical piers to dissolve the plane of the façade. Some of his stylised ornament recalls the work of Wright.

Klaas Vermaas, who lives in Utrecht, is an architect with the firm Ben Kraan Architecten bna in Bodegraven.

Sources

• Brooks, H. Allen. The Prairie School. New York: Norton & Co., 1976 (English).

• de Wagt, Wim. J.B. van Loghem. Haarlem: Schuyt & Co., 1995 (Dutch).

• Gebhard, David. Purcell and Elmslie. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2006 (English).

• Groenendijk, Paul and Vollaard, Piet. Architectural Guide to the Netherlands 1900-2000. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2006 (Dutch and English).

• van Bergeijk, Herman. Jan Wils: De Stijl en Verder. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2007 (Dutch).

• van Bergeijk, Herman. Willem Marinus Dudok. Naarden: V+K Publishing/ Inmerc, 1995 (Dutch).

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