Architecture of the Netherlands


Dutch architecture includes the history of architecture within the current territory of the Netherlands, thereby excluding Belgium, which is often included in the broader term "the Low Countries". The distinct character of Dutch architecture was long denied; however, the richness of architectural creation in the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the present day proves otherwise. The Netherlands was open to a wide range of influences. including from Italy and the British Isles.
Up until the 19th century, architecture in the Netherlands shared significant similarities with that of Flanders, as these two regions had a common culture until the Renaissance. Nevertheless, Protestant, commercial, pastoral, and free Holland since the 17th century does not resemble Catholic, industrious Flanders, which was long subjected to foreign rule. More concretely, unlike Flemish architecture, the use of stone in construction in the Netherlands has always been limited, as it is found only in very small quantities in the territory. This scarcity pushed the Dutch to adapt to an architecture primarily based on brick, which was even used in road paving.
Although Dutch architecture cannot be reduced to a particular style, it is distinguished by its practical spirit and rejection of superfluity — a trait developed due to the unique context in which it evolved. The Netherlands is constantly threatened by the sea, which the Dutch have managed to tame through ingenuity and an innovative mindset. Élie Faure thus wrote in his Histoire de l’art about the relationship the Dutch had with their country: "They struggled for ten centuries to seize its mud, to build upon it, to rebuild their cities that collapse into the peat bogs or that a tidal wave drowns in mud and shifting sand. Life was too hard for them, and now it is too good to live for them to seek, outside its daily aspects, the intellectual education it can offer to those who live in the freedom, idleness, and passionate excitements of southern countries, tormented either by the needs of an imagination left to itself or by the torturing will to repress its excesses."

Central and Late Middle Ages

Romanesque architecture

From written sources, it is certain that stone churches were built as early as the beginning of the 8th century in Maastricht, but these have long since disappeared. However, some examples of Carolingian churches built in the Netherlands still remain, such as the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht and the "Walkhof" chapel in Nijmegen.
From the Romanesque period onward, the Netherlands were part of an architectural region extending from where the Rhine enters the gorge near Bingen to its mouth in the North Sea — known as the Lower Rhine–Meuse region. This area, now divided among four countries, formed an artistic unity during the Middle Ages. Romanesque architecture covers a period from the mid-10th century to around the end of the 12th century.
In the Dutch territory, one notable remaining Romanesque structure is St. Peter’s Church in Utrecht, which stands as the last well-preserved example of a columned Romanesque basilica in the Lower Rhine–Meuse region. The spaces of this church are lofty, and the columns with square capitals are slender, leaving a strong impression on visitors. There was also a Romanesque church in Utrecht dedicated to Saint Mary, which was particularly significant. Though now gone, this building featured galleries and double-bay vaults with rectangular ribs, showing similarities to Lombard churches. Thus, Dutch architecture in the Middle Ages did not yet exhibit a distinct identity; it was mainly subject to regional influences. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption in Maastricht is an important Romanesque monument under German influence. This influence is reflected in the more developed westworks and the presence of western towers.

Renaissance and Baroque

The Dutch Golden Age roughly spanned the 17th century. Due to the thriving economy, cities expanded greatly. New town halls and storehouses were built, and many new canals were dug out in and around various cities such as Delft, Leiden, and Amsterdam for defense and transport purposes. Many wealthy merchants had new houses built along these canals. These houses were generally very narrow and had ornamented façades that befitted their new status.
Of Italian Renaissance architecture, primarily visual characteristics such as pillars, pilasters, pediments, and rustication were adopted, since many Dutch architects were unable to read the theoretical substantiation, which was often written down in Italian or Latin. Horizontal lines were emphasized, contrasting with the vertical emphasis of Gothic architecture. For instance, light-coloured bands were embedded into facades to emphasize this horizontal character. Another common application in Dutch Renaissance architecture, particularly in Amsterdam, was the stepped gable, which was meant to hide the diagonal lines of the gable behind the straight lines of the façade.
The architecture of the first republic in Northern Europe was marked by sobriety and restraint, and was meant to reflect democratic values by quoting extensively from classical antiquity. It found its impetus in the designs of Hendrick de Keyser, who was instrumental in establishing a Venetian-influenced style into early 17th-century architecture through new buildings like the Noorderkerk and Westerkerk in Amsterdam. In general, architecture in the Low Countries, both in the Counter-Reformation-influenced south and Protestant-dominated north, remained strongly invested in northern Italian Renaissance and Mannerist forms that predated the Roman High Baroque style of Borromini and Bernini. Instead, the more austere form practiced in the Dutch Republic was well suited to major building patterns: palaces for the House of Orange and new civic buildings, uninfluenced by the Counter-Reformation style that made some headway in Antwerp.
File:Amsterdam - Royal Palace and Nieuwe Kerk located on the Dam Square - panoramio.jpg|left|thumb|Town Hall of Amsterdam, built in 1665
The major exponents of the mid-17th century, Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post, adopted de Keyser's forms for such eclectic elements as giant-order pilasters, gable roofs, central pediments, and vigorous steeples. Brought together in a coherent combination, these stylistic developments anticipated Wren's Classicism. The most ambitious constructions of the period included the seats of self-government in Amsterdam and Maastricht, designed by Campen and Post, respectively. On the other hand, the residences of the House of Orange are closer to a typical burgher mansion than to a royal palace. Two of these, Huis ten Bosch and Mauritshuis, are symmetrical blocks with large windows, stripped of ostentatious Baroque flourishes. The same austerely geometrical effect is achieved without great cost or pretentious effects at the stadholder's summer residence of Het Loo.
Another of the designs used by the Dutch was the use of warm colors such as red or dark orange. They also were roughly textured and had tended to be darkened due to the rough texturing. The use of architectural symmetrical balance was part of their habits as well.

Modernism

During the 20th century, Dutch architects like Berlage, Van Doesburg, Van Eesteren, Rietveld, Oud and Van der Vlugt played a leading role in the development of modern architecture in the Netherlands, as well as internationally.
Crucial for the development of modern architecture in the Netherlands has been the work of Hendrik Petrus Berlage, architect of the Beurs van Berlage. He propagated Rationalist architecture, while simultaneously embracing craftsmanship. Berlage has also received critical acclaim for Plan Zuid, an urban plan for Amsterdam-Zuid, which became a model for social housing developments in the Netherlands and abroad. Berlage inspired different movements, and different groups and schools were established accordingly, during the 1910s-1930s, each with their own view on which direction modern architecture should take.
Several cross-connections existed between the schools and movements, as can be observed in the work of Willem Dudok; some of his designs have traditionalist features, while others are landmarks of functionalism. In the 1930s, various modern architects advocated a return to traditional artistic principles, instead of following a machine aesthetics, among them J.J.P Oud and Sybold van Ravesteyn, although the reverse happened as well, especially in the 1950s-1960s. The different movements and schools, together with their disputes, would inform the development of Dutch architecture in the second half of the 20th century, which also witnessed the emergence of new movements, structuralism being an important one, with architects such as Aldo van Eyck, Herman Hertzberger, and Piet Blom.