Photo: www.gooienvechthistorisch.nl (SAGV032.8)

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Joelaan 2
1929-1930 / P.J. Elling

Joelaan 2, Hilversum

When Elling designed in in the Nieuwe Bouwen style, he had an idealistic and experimental design attitude. This attitude is reflected in this villa, which was composed of smoothly plastered volumes in an orthogonal composition. This includes the use of a concrete skeleton and steel windows. Applying a concrete skeleton for a relatively small project is quite special. The residential block with the main functions is clearly distinguishable from the staff wing.

The client, Mr. Doyer, came from the Indies in 1929. He worked at the Java China Parcel Line N.V., later the Royal Inter-Ocean Lines. He contacted Elling through the owner of the villa Hertog Hendriklaan 1, which had just been completed. The design provoked resistance from the beauty committee, but neither the architect nor the client intended to give in. Ultimately, the plan was approved. The villa was designed for a family with three children, a nanny and a domestic worker. The residential block has a square floor plan and a cavity wall. The staff wing connects to half of the residential block and consists of one and a half brick masonry. The facades of the original garage, which was added to the staff wings, are made of stone masonry.

Elling has paid great attention to the dimensions in order to be able to use a maximum number of components, such as the steel windows, in equal sizes. During the restoration in 1993 it became clear that applying modern building methods had not been easy. There must have been a number of difficult problems when placing the concrete structure. During the dismantling, it appeared that there were large dimensional differences in the connections of floors poured successively, that some columns were twisted and that too little concrete cover had been applied around the reinforcement. Due to size adjustments during construction, the sizes of the windows and the lintels no longer matched each other. Corrosion of the steel was the result.

Source: Annette Koenders, Hilversum. Architectuur en Stedenbouw 1850-1940, Zwolle (2001).