Photo: Dudok Architectuur Centrum
The neo-Gothic Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk on Naarderstraat was built in 1909-1911 to a design by architect Wolter Te Riele, a student of Pierre Cuypers. The church has a rare floor plan that forms a cross between a cruciform basilica and a central building. The church contains stained glass windows from the studios of F. Nicolas & Zonen and Max Weiss. The church was designated a national monument in 1987 and was restored between 1990 and 2005. The adjacent rectory, also designed by Te Riele, is a municipal monument.
After the St. Vitus Church on Emmastraat, which was inaugurated in 1892, had become too small again in the early twentieth century, Pastor Dr. M.J. Schräder in 1904 to establish a new parish church. For this purpose, the church board purchased a site on the corner of Naarderstraat and Koninginneweg. Construction of the new church started in 1909. In September 1911, the church was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate. The design for the church came from the Deventer architect Wolter Te Riele.
Te Riele designed a three-aisled basilica that was oriented east-west. The entrance portal was added in 1930, also designed by Te Riele. The church was built entirely of brick and decorated with neo-Gothic ornaments, such as pointed arch windows with natural stone three-past traces and metal finials. The unique floor plan was created by applying a hexagonal widening in the nave. This gives the church a very open interior. The celebration was accentuated by a hexagonal crossing tower with a slender spire. The church also received a striking net vault.
The Deventer architect Wolter te Riele (1867-1937) mainly designed churches. He received part of his education from P.J.H. (Pierre) Cuyers (1827-1921). Te Riele was considered an important innovator of the neo-Gothic architectural style in the Netherlands. Many of his churches have a floor plan that met the liturgical demands of their time by providing an optimal view of the altar. A wide nave was the most common solution or, as in the case of the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk in Hilversum, a centralizing floor plan. A few years later, the church served as an example for Pierre Cuypers’ Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk in Venlo.
The church has a number of special works of art. Pastor Schräder had a Marianum made, a double-sided image of a standing Mary in a halo, which was hung in the middle of the celebration. The main altar comes from the Utrecht artist Mengelberg. Atelier F. Nicolas en Zonen supplied the stained glass windows. 28 windows, the oldest from 1912, depict the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows of Mary. A later series of windows was designed by Max Weiss (1910-1972). Other places of interest are the Stations of the Cross, the statues, the main organ and the communion rails.
Naarderstraat 106, Hilversum