Tuindorp De Burgh, Stratum (Eindhoven)

Eindhoven has experienced a rapid urbanisation from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards. This boom was due to manufacturing of many kinds settling and expanding in the old city, but especially in the surrounding rural villages. The small village of Stratum, located directly south of Eindhoven saw little such urbanisation until the beginning of the twentieth century. The expansion took the shape of wards (wijken in Dutch) that were added along preexisting roads. Between 1910 and 1920 a regional plan was made for the urban development op Eindhoven. The plans included a circular road, new arterial roads, new parks, new residential areas and new sites for factories. These plans were finalised before the annexation of the surrounding villages by Eindhoven to form Greater Eindhoven in 1920.

In 1937 it was proudly announced in the Eindhovensch Dagblad (literally: Eindhoven Daily Paper) that building work was starting on Tuindorp de Burgh in Stratum. The houses are discribed as "modern with lots of glass and therefore much direct sunlight". The fact that the location is near the city centre and many amenities, is bordering on rural fields and has been designed by the well-known architect Dudok is emphasised. The new ward takes its name from the nearby mansion house De Burgh (literally the castle but derived from the same root as borough).

The garden village was constructed in three building campaigns of which the first two are known as het Witte Dorp (the white village) and the later redevelopment of the DAF factory site as Nieuwe Witte Dorp (new white village). Together the area between the Sint Jorislaan and the Piuslaan as Tuindorp De Burgh.

The first building phase included 82 dwellings that were built in terraces in 1937-'38. The new development was specifically aimed at middle class households with higher than average rents. The houses are a copy of a small development in Tilburg (1936) and were advertised as: "beautiful white houses with red roofs, steel doorframes and windows bathing in sun, light and air". In 1938 the second phase started further east encompassing a further 180 dwellings that were completed in 1939. At the same time plans were drafted for the third phase known as Complex 3 which also included a new church and a school. This part was built during the 1940s and 50s in a different style by a different developer to an altered layout. The old plans could no longer be executed because the Fatima Church (1947) had already been built in a different location further south.

The situation in 1920 before any development took place. In the east the large mansion of De Burgh (B) stands surrounded by a rectangular moat. A large artificial lake (al) has been dug south of the oldest route. A new lodge (L) is constructed on a preexisting avenue on the Geldropseweg (G) the new route to Geldrop. The remodeled mansion house was given a new orientation on this new main road in 1912. Beyond the new road two  double Farm Lodges (FL) are mirrored on each side of the main axial avenue. Next to the moated garden lies the vegetable garden (V).In the west we find the religious complex consisting of the church - Joriskerk (J), the Hospital (H) on the site of the medieval church, the Asylum (A) and the new cemetery (C).

The site of the new garden village were some fields and meadows between the Church of St George (Sint-Joriskerk), the St Joseph Hospital and Charitable Asylum (Sint Jozef Gasthuis en Liefdesgesticht) and the large estate of the De Burgh. On a field along the Schalmstraat* a cemetery was situated. It is one of the so-called buitenbegraafplaatsen, cemeteries situated out of town that were made mandatory by the French during the time of the Kingdom of Holland (1806-1810). It replaced the medieval burial grounds around the old church some 200 metres to the west. In 1912 a new and much bigger church was built west of the old church. The hospital was subsequently built over the old church and graveyard. In 1930 the Van Doorne brothers started their trailer company called van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek or D.A.F. They started their business on a plot next to the cemetery. The garden village was built to the east with the DAF head offices on the central square. A new through road was also part of the layout. This road however was paid for by the municipality and not by the builder / developer P. van Grootel nor the housing company Huizenbezit De Dommel.

The original layout for the garden village encompassed three complexes (1, 2 and 3). The spatial value of the layout lies in the differentiation of the dwellings within a well defined visual appearance and the accentuation of the streets by details in the buildings and the alignment along the streets. The layout is quite typical for garden villages of the 1930s in the Netherlands with a strong emphasis on axial design with widening roads and public spaces focused on shops or public buildings (like in this case the church). Designs are mostly vary angular making the most of the plot and using shifts in direction of the streets for greenery or public spaces.  

The initiative for the new housing estate probably lay with the local builder P. van Grootel and served a s a way of keeping his employees occupied during the crisis years. The initiative didn't fit within the planning framework of the municipal plan and lead to much debate, not less so because the parish priest had plans to extend the cemetery and the site was poorly accessible. The fact that the land bordered on the small DAF-factory was considered a strong positive of the site. This combined with closeness to amenities made the council decide in favour of the plans. This positive stance was greatly helped by the fact that the famous architect Dudok was involved. Tuindorp De Burgh is still one of the best kept housing estates in Eindhoven that are testament to the forward thinking attitudes commonly held by developers, architects and politicians in this rapidly expanding industrial city.

The original buildings built in the Modernist style called New Objectivity (Nieuwe Zakelijkheid) have been lovingly restored and are listed monuments.

* a schalm is a boundary tree