Bookworming: G. Feenstra, Tuinsteden

The Frisian-born architect Gerrit Feenstra (1890-1985) worked in a traditionalist style. In 1914, aged 24, he was appointed as stadsarchitect (municipal architect) by the city of Arnhem. He kept this post until 1920 when he decided to set up his own practice. He retired in 1960 at the age of 70. Although trained as a traditionalist at the polytechnic school, he included influences from the Amsterdamse School (Amsterdam School), the Haagse School (New Hague School) and Het Nieuwe Bouwen (New Objectivity) in his works. His post-WW2 work show great affinity with the Delftse School (Delft Traditionalist School). Arnhem is historically well-connected with Germany. This is partly the reason why Feenstra was asked to write a book in the series of text books for architects (Handboek voor Architecten) on the practical implementation of Garden Cities in 1917.

The book simply titled Tuinsteden was published in 1920. He choose the simple title to relate to the subject matter and on the frontispiece the full title with subtitle can be read: Tuinsteden, en volkshuisvesting in Nederland en het buitenland met een beknopt overzicht van woningwetgeving en crisismaatregelen [Garden Cities and public housing in the Netherlands and abroad with a concise review of housing legislation and crisis measures]. The richly illustrated book comprises of 4 sections.

I have a copy of the original with this stylish design on the front. The title page with the long descriptive title (middle). A page showing drawings and a site picture of Hampstead Garden Suburb (on the right). Feenstra sees this development as a leading project in future garden city development.

The first section of the book deals with Vroegere en hedendaagse toestanden en de woningbouwwetgeving (Historical and current situation with house building regulations). Before the 1901 Housing Act, Feenstra explains, there were three groups involved in house building: [1] philanthropic (housing) societies, [2] winter builders (who set their farm workers to work in construction projects when there was little work on the land) and [3] speculative, commercial developers (so-called revolution builders). The second group fell away with the modernisation of agriculture. The first group builds the best housing, but the last group produced much larger numbers of dwellings. Speculative house building is often of mediocre or worst quality, of poor construction and with substandard materials used. Most of these buildings include windowless rooms and attics and cellars converted for housing. As this leads to unsanitary conditions an Act was submitted to parliament in 1854 to improve living conditions and the standard of workman's housing. Conservative -confessional- parties were very successful in their delay tactics so only some minor regulations were approved. It would take a general enquiry (1872) to come to a final legislative proposal that -finally-  came into force in 1901.

This 1901 Housing Act comprised of 10 paragraphs that deal with [1] regulations on housing requirements, [2] declaration on number of inhabitants, [3] improvements to counter overcrowding, [4] condemned buildings, evictions, closures and demolitions, [5] compulsory purchase orders, [6] expanding built-up areas, [7] municipal financial support in housing, [8] governmental financial support in housing, [9] penal provisions and [10] concluding regulations. Most of the responsibilities for implementing this Housing Act lay with municipal authorities. For the realisation of public housing, housing cooperatives (Woningcorporaties) and building societies (Woningbouwverenigingen) were the only (non-profit) bodies that could apply for grants or guarantees. In 1918 the burocratic requirements were relaxed which lead to a speedy increase in the number of public housing projects. Other linked legislation is the 1906 Landarbeiderswet (Agricultural workers Act) that made the erection of small dwellings in the countryside possible for farm hands and seasonal labourers. Local authorities were given discretionary powers to grant land to locals for building their own small house.  

The first section of the book concludes with temporary housing (noodwoningen) and solutions. Temporary housing was mainly erected in industrial cities (Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, The Hague, Zwolle, etcetera). It was sometimes misused to quickly increase the amount of housing available. Although some were built well, most are small and of poor construction. Even the squalid temporary housing was nonetheless kept standing for up to 50 years. Some are still in use; Disteldorp in Amsterdam for instance.

The solution favoured by Dutch architects and planners was (and is) standardisation (normalisatie in Dutch). This trend was started in the nineteenth century based on German examples. Housing is divided in classes which are subdivided in types ranging from a three bedroom family house to a block of four apartments. Each type could be executed as a freestanding building, end of terrace (corner house) or as part of a row (terraced housing).

The second section deals with garden cities abroad. The first -short- chapter is a theoretical examination of the concept 'Garden City' (Tuinstad in Dutch) with a summary of the ideas of Ebenezer Howard (an idealist in the eyes of the practical Feenstra). Examples of foreign garden cities include factory housing at Mulhouse in France, philanthropic housing by the Peabody Trust in London, model villages (Port Sunlight, Bourneville and Earswick) and the garden cities of Letchworth, Hampstead Garden Suburb and the Well Hall Estate. Of each example mentioned a street plan with housing blocks is included, together with floor plans of typical dwellings, and photographs of exteriors and interiors. Feenstra comments on the unnecessarily tiny living rooms and unpractical kitchens that might suit the English taste for emulating grander housing, but are deemed unfit for the situation in the Low Countries. Incidentally Muthesius already commented on this phenomenon and the need for adaptation to local practices.

In a separate chapter examples from Germany are discussed, starting with housing projects in Essen by Krupp. Feenstra gives a full overview of housing provided by Krupp, starting with early examples of workers colonies (Scheder Hof, Alfredshof, and Altenhof). He then goes on the look at intermediate projects (Alfredshof extension and Friedrichshof) and concludes with garden villages (Altenhof II, Gartenstadt Dahlhauserheide, Margarethenhöhe, Siedlung Emscher Lippe, all initiated by Krupp and Gartenstadt Staaken near Berlin). Remarkably he makes no mention of Gartenstadt Hellerau near Dresden.

In the third section aptly entitled Hollandse toestanden, ontwerp tuinstadbebouwing [the Dutch situation, designing garden city buildings) Feenstra discusses the improvements and gains in public housing brought about by modern legislation. He show bad practice and good practice floor plans. Also he pays attention to that typically Dutch staple of urban housing the boven- en onderwoning normally consisting of two -sometimes up to four- dwellings stacked under one roof with a shared entrance but separate front doors. Feenstra focuses primarily on small dwellings; for him these are central to the attractiveness of the garden city model. He includes exemplary plans for houses, floor plans and street plans. Like Sitte he includes examples of interesting street scenes and junctions with sketches of actual situations from Frisia and Holland. Much like Unwin cross sections of residential streets with planting are included in the book. Feenstra briefly discusses best practice examples of middle class housing and also addresses the interior of public housing.

Some images from the book with exemplary housing projects. On the right the plan and an image of Dahlhauserheide a garden suburb in Hordel near Bochum. In the middle the plan and some floor plans of the Siedlung Emscher Lippe in Datteln, built for the colliery of the same name. On the right an example of the municipal housing in Hilversum, designed by Dudok as a series of garden village style neigbourhoods.

A full chapter is dedicated to gardens, with much attention paid to built demarcations (fences, walls, etcetera). The following chapter deals with school gardens and allotment. Both are seen as very important for a successful garden village. Here Feenstra shows a clear influence from Germany where allotment are an integral part of  garden villages and garden suburbs.

The fourth section of the book deals with Dutch examples of garden city type housing. All projects featured ate known as garden villages (tuindorp in Dutch). There are no garden cities in the Netherlands and Belgium as the term village was felt to be more fitting with the character and scale of these housing developments. Feenstra devotes a chapter to each exemplary housing project and includes a street layout, floor plans and pictures of the situation. The most important example is Tuindorp 't Lansink. Other chapters are devoted to Tuindorp Elinkwijk, Arbeidersdorp Zuilen, Tuindorp Heyplaats, Philipsdorp, Tuindorp Meerdervoort, Tuindorp Vreewijk, Municipal housing in Hilversum by Dudok and Tuindorp Ede.