Rietveld Schröder House

Rietveld Schröderhuis
UNESCO world heritage
The house seen from the street
National territory:	Netherlands
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	(i) (ii)
Reference No .:	965
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	2000  (session 24)

The Rietveld Schröder House (also called Schröder House) in Utrecht was built in 1924 to a design by the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld and is one of the most important structures of the De Stijl movement. Before the 2000 UNESCO list of world heritage is captured, it was as early as 1976 Rijksmonument under monument protection provided.

history

prehistory

Rietveld designed this house in close cooperation with the client Truus Schröder-Schräder. After her husband died in 1923, she actually wanted to leave Utrecht to move to Amsterdam near her sister . She asked Rietveld to help her find a new apartment for her and her three children - but when no suitable house could be found, he suggested a new building. Ultimately, a suitable building site was found on Prins Hendriklaan (house number 50) on the outskirts of Utrecht with an unobstructed view of the polder landscape .

draft

The architect's first draft was not convincing to the client, who is an interior designer by profession , and so Gerrit Rietveld made two further proposals after working out the floor plans together , the latter ultimately corresponding to Truus Schröder's ideas of a simple, non-restrictive living environment.

The cubic shape of the design that was implemented is characteristic of the abstract design language of this style. It is determined by large window openings and transitions enclosed with horizontal and vertical elements from the inside to the outside. In addition, the typical De Stijl colors red, blue and yellow are used in combination with white, black and gray.

Construction work

The "invisible corner"

Since the building differed greatly from the architectural style of the surrounding area, Rietveld had to use a few tricks to approve the building application . It was not evident from the floor plans submitted that the rooms on the upper floor should be separated with sliding walls: In the side view, the roof line of the building behind it is so clearly visible that the impression arises that the Schröder House also has a sloping gable roof . Because of these “inaccuracies” in the plans, the building permit was granted without any further conditions.

The building, originally planned as a concrete construction , was finally carried out with plastered masonry for cost reasons . Reinforced concrete was only used for the foundation and the balconies .

Rietveld was often to be found on the construction site - on the one hand because he was still defining a large number of details during the construction phase - on the other hand because the construction workers were sometimes overwhelmed with the new shapes and ideas in his absence. The craftsmanship was in part poor to unsatisfactory right from the start.

Use as a museum

The building owner Truus Schröder lived in the building until her death in 1985. The building then became accessible as part of the Centraal Museum Utrecht . There are also guided tours for groups of up to 12 people. Almost all rooms can be visited and the various folding mechanisms of the many folding doors and folding boards are demonstrated. Registration is required.

gallery

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literature

• Ursula Kleefisch-Jobst: Architecture in the 20th Century , Dumont Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-8321-5574-0

Web links

Commons : Rietveld Schröder House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Rietveld Schröder House. In: arch INFORM .
• Homepage of the Rietveld Schröder House (English, Dutch)

Individual evidence

1. ^ World Heritage Committee Inscribes 61 New Sites on World Heritage List. World Heritage Committee , November 30, 2000, accessed June 24, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Monument number: 18329. Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, accessed on June 24, 2014 (Dutch). 
3. ↑ Centraalmuseum ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Coordinates: 52 ° 5 ′ 7.2 "  N , 5 ° 8 ′ 51.3"  E