Jos Cuypers
Josephus Theodorus Joannes Cuijpers , last name but generally in the spelling Cuypers , with first names also commonly called Joseph or Jos for short , (born June 10, 1861 in Roermond , † January 20, 1949 in Meerssen ) was a Dutch architect and entrepreneur.
Life
Joseph Cuypers was the oldest child from the marriage of the Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers with his second wife Antoinette Catherine Thérèse (called "Nenny") Alberdingk Thijm.
The Cuypers family , who initially lived in their father's hometown, Roermond , moved to Amsterdam in 1865. As a boarding school student, Joseph Cuypers attended the high school in Rolduc monastery near Kerkrade . He then studied at the Delft Polytechnic for four years. He completed his studies in 1883 as a building and civil engineer. After a one-year internship and a seven-month study trip, he began working as a draftsman in his father's office in 1885.
After the company Cuypers & Stoltenberg in Roermond, which was co-founded by his father and specialized in the production of Christian sculpture, church painting and church furniture, was dissolved due to differences between Pierre Cuypers senior and Frans Hubert Stoltzenberg, Joseph Cuypers and his father founded in 1892 as Partner the company Cuypers & Co.
On January 2, 1889, Jos Cuypers made the marriage covenant with Delphine Marie Clara Antonie Povel. The marriage resulted in three sons and two daughters. The son Pierre also became an architect.
As a successor to his father, Joseph Cuypers worked as a teacher at the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid (state school of arts and crafts) in Amsterdam from 1890; further teaching activities followed as well as journalistic work in the field of architecture.
With the architect Jan Stuyt (1868–1934) he founded his own architectural office in 1900, but remained connected to his father's office. The partnership with Stuyt ended in 1908. Together with his son Pierre, he ran an architecture office in his home town of Roermond from 1920.
Works
Jos Cuypers was an architect of the transition from historicism to modernism. During the first time he worked with his father, he consistently followed the neo-Gothic style. Later works show clear eclectic influences and combine various different styles. In projects that he carried out together with his father, it is hardly possible to clearly assign the proportions of father and son in the overall work. Buildings that he designed alone in this first phase of his activity, however, show clear differences to the work of his father. Joseph Cuypers himself strove for stylistic renewal, but wanted to achieve this on the basis of tradition and not in the form of a revolution.
The first independent church design by Jos Cuypers was that of the church in Nes aan de Amstel (1888). The St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem is considered the most important church building by Joseph Cuypers . The church, built in three main construction phases (choir between 1895 and 1898, transept and nave from 1902 to 1906 and the double tower facade from 1927 to 1928) exemplifies the change in Cuyper's style. While the choir is still essentially Neo-Gothic with Neo-Romanesque borrowings, the transept and nave are presented in an eclectic mix of Byzantine and Moorish style elements with echoes of Art Nouveau. The St. Calixtus Basilica in Groenlo followed as a joint effort .
After separating from Stuyts, Cuypers and his son realized several churches that took up the motif of the central building, for example St. Quirimus in Halsteren (1911) or the St. Laurentiuskerk in Dongen (1918–1921).
Cuypers later returned to basilical church building, for example at the Marienkirche in Renkum (1923) and the St. Remigiuskerk in Schimmert (1924).
The stock exchange in Amsterdam (1909–1912) is considered to be his most important secular building.
In addition to the design of new buildings, Jos Cuypers was also active in the repair of historical buildings. Examples include the Church of St. Pancratius in Heerlen (1901–1903) and the Basilica of the Holy Sacrament in Meerssen (1937) and, together with his father, the restoration and expansion of Kasteel de Haar near Utrecht .
literature
- Ileen Montijn: Pierre Cuypers, 1827–1921, Schoonheid as Hartstocht . Stedelijk Museum Roermond and Immerc bv, Wormer 2007, ISBN 978-90-6611-636-8 .
- Entry in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 3 (Den Haag 1989), author: AJ Looyenga, available online at historici.nl , accessed on December 22, 2011
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cuypers, Jos |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cuijpers, Josephus Theodurus Joannes |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch architect and representative of historicism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Roermond |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 20, 1949 |
| Place of death | Meerssen |