Villa’s and houses
In addition to his job as Municipal Architect in Hilversum, Dudok maintained his own architectural practice for private assignments. The council had given him special permission to make designs for clients outside of Hilversum. In Hilversum itself, as a civil servant in the service of the municipality, he was not allowed to do this. In addition to large private commissions such as Warenhuis De Bijenkorf in Rotterdam, the Monument on the Afsluitdijk or the office buildings for insurance company De Nederlanden from 1845, Dudok designed twenty villas and houses.
Practical and aesthetically pleasing
Residential houses were not the most important building tasks that Dudok received as a private architect, but that did not mean that he paid less attention to them. During his designs, Dudok kept close contact with the clients, in order to meet their requirements and wishes as much as possible. In doing so, he did not lose sight of his own ideas. The result was often a practically laid out house that also met the architect’s beauty ideals. The necessary attention was paid to every detail, often involving his wife Marie as well. Dudok remained involved throughout the entire process, both in the construction and in the furnishing.
Amsterdamse School elements
Dudok designed his earliest houses in the typical country house style of that period. He made use of thatched roofs, varied building elements, bay windows and tall chimneys. He also regularly applied Amsterdam School elements. Villa Sevensteyn in Den Haag (1920-1922) represents a transition to Dudok’s personal architectural style into the Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. Characteristic are a cubist structure and flat roofs. Here too, however, you will find Amsterdam School elements in the details. In 1926 Dudok designed his own house De Wikke at 71 Utrechtseweg in Hilversum. The influence of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is undeniable. He would live in De Wikke until his death in 1974. His architectural office was also located at this address.
The 1950’s
In the years after the Second World War, Dudok designed few residential houses. The demand for homes changed to more sober (semi-)bungalows. These houses often have white-clad brick facades, on a dark plinth, and a tiled roof. We find these in Bilthoven, Oegstgeest and Hilversum. One of Dudok’s last designs, Dr. P. Kieft in Bussum, which Dudok designed in the second half of the fifties, was demolished in 2000.
India
The only residential house that was built abroad is located in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Here Dudok designed the house for Mr. S.A. Basil, one of the directors of Humayan Properties Ltd. This company had appointed Dudok to design a cinema and an apartment building with offices and apartments in the Indian city. Dudok was given six weeks leave by the municipality to travel to what was then still British territory. The design for the mansion for the director has similarities with the Town Hall in Hilversum.
National Monuments
Of the approximately twenty designs for villas and houses that Dudok designed as a private architect, fourteen have actually been executed. Five of these houses have now been designated as National Monuments. These all date from the 1920s.