Tuinwijk Vredeburg: Dutch-inspired architecture in Kalmthout

After returning from Amsterdam, the Belgian architect Egide van der Paal started his own practice. In his work he shows a great influence of Dutch architects like for instance H.P. Berlage and W.M. Dudok. The same can be said of co designer Paul Smekens. The first commissions of this architect, who was also inspired by the French Beaux Art, were the garden villages of Vredeburg in Kalmthout-Heide and Essenhout in Kapellen. Their combined efforts in Tuinwijk Vredeburg are often erroneously referred to as "built in a cottage style", in actual fact their work is halfway between Traditionalism and Modernism.

This double villa presents itself as a single dwelling, but is in fact a semidetached property. This building takes inspiration from both vernacular villa architecture and the plasticity of Berlagean design.

The gable tops are coloured white in these designs by E. van der Paal. This provides a striking contrast with the main body of the building clad in brick. The small red brick detail in the gable top, shown on the right, shows the architect was familiar with Amsterdam School architecture.

This large semidetached property with its protruding corner bays and symmetrical treatment under a hipped roof is a more traditional design. The colouration of the facade (red brick and white render) ties this building in with the rest in the row.

Each of the buildings of the garden village was to be set in an ample green garden with hedges along its boundary. The entrances on the Kapellensteenweg have been emphasised by portals that give access to the drive way. Each originally had an intricate and ornate  gate (shown on the right) between brick column with a central section rendered white underneath a hipped roof with red clay tiles (as seen on the left).

Central in the first building phase the so-called Discotheque Vredeburg took pride of place. This social club was changed into a Boarding house soon after it was opened. Nowadays it has been changed into private housing with a business premises where once the large arched gate gave access to what was planned as the Garden village Vredeburg. The name can still be read on the facade. This building by Paul Smekens is more ornamental than the housing flanking it either side.

Tuinwijk Vredeburg: the garden village that was never built

The village of Kalmthout, north of Antwerp, once formed part of the Manor of Nispen, that was held by the Lord Baron of Breda. After the partitioning of the Low Countries in the 16th century, Kalmthout with Essen became part of the Spanish Netherlands whilst the rest of the Barony of Breda became part of State-Brabant within the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. Kalmthout remained a small agricultural village surrounded by moors and heaths until the arrival of the railways in the 19th century.

Belgium was the first continental country to build a railway network from 1835 onwards. In 1836 the initial line linking Mechlin and Brussels was extended to Antwerp. In 1852 the industrialist Gihoul from Lille, who owned a lot of land around Kalmthout, agreed to fund and build a new railway linking Antwerp and Rotterdam via Breda. This railway line cut right through the village and lifted its isolation. The new transport facilities gave rise to new ideas and people coming to this hitherto remote location.  

The inhabitants of the city of Antwerp are soon attracted to this spot by virtue of its green landscapes, clean air and possibilities for more relaxed social interactions. The result were hotels and cafés springing up everywhere and a steady influx of day trippers. This was followed by wealthy urbanites building summer residences and later permanent villa's in and around the old village.

Originally stations were built at Ekeren, Kapellen, Kalmthout and Essen. In 1897 a new halt was created at Heide, literally on the heath halfway between Kalmthout and Kapellen. This halt had been targeted at accommodating day trippers, but quickly developed into a leisure hub. Especially Jewish traders, bankers and businessmen were attracted to Heide and flocked there building wooden summer houses and operating bars, guesthouses and hotels. In 1911 Kalmthout-Heide got its present permanent station and developed into a place of residence. The vast majority of people moving to Heide were, apart from some Russian and Austrian citizens, Jews originally from Amsterdam. They developed Heide into a leafy suburb some 12 kilometres north of Antwerp.

The Amsterdam-connection is important as Heide wouldn't be merely developed for villa's, but also had two garden villages planed for middle class clerks and employees on either side of the railway. The Nieuwe Wijk (literally New Quarter) was developed west of the track. The garden village Vredeburg (a common name for country retreats meaning: safe and quiet place) was planned on the eastside on a triangular plot of land between existing roads. The ambitious layout designed by Egide van der Paal (Belgian) who had worked in the employ of Van der Pek in Amsterdam was commissioned in 1921. He also designed the houses. The communal facilities were designed by Paul Smekens (also Belgian).

The design of the layout of this garden village is clearly based on the schematics  G Feenstra included in his book "Tuinsteden" (Garden Cities) of 1920, that was published in Amsterdam. It shows an Unwinesque inspired treatment of the street space that is delimitated by hedged front gardens and buildings combined. As a middle class neighbourhood semidetached properties dominate, even on the small public spaces (2+7) and around the larger squares (4+6). The central square (5) with an apartment building or communal facility is very recognisably inspired by Feenstra. On the edge room is allotted for another facility (3) probably a school. The so-called Discotheque (1) stood along the main road as a formal gateway to the proposed garden village.

The first and only building phase to be realised comprised of 10 houses along the Kapellensteenweg (outlined above in red). These detached and semidetached properties flank the so-called Discotheque Vredeburg (1923) a social club with rented rooms above. As a result of the persisting demand for rooms for rent and holiday accommodation the widow Rifka Brunner-Hollander started the Pension Brunner in the Discotheque. She would run her boarding house here until the 1960s.

The city of Antwerp part 5: the outward expansion of the defences

For a long time the city defences of Antwerp were composed of the so-called Spaanse Omwalling (Spanish Walls) from 1542 with the Citadel of 1567 in the south. The citadel was built right outside the city walls where before the village of Kiel had stood. Apart from these city defences fortresses were built to defend the Scheldt river. These "forts" were Vlaams Hoofd (1576) opposite the city, Fort Sint Marie (1584), Fort Isabella (1605), Fort Lillo (1582) and Fort Liefkenshoek (1584). The latter two riverside fortresses were remodelled in 1782 and 1799 respectively. As part of that Napoleonic upgrade campaign a new fortress was built in 1812 north of the city near the village of Oosterweel: Fort Ferdinand. In 1862 this fort would be replaced by a much bigger fortress, the so-called Noordkasteel (literally: North Castle). This fortress was the crown of the new defensive system devised by Capt. Alexis Henri Brialmont (1812-1903).

The city of Antwerp after 1812 with the Fort Ferdinand north of the city. The fortress is a large rectangular structure constructed with earth banks and brick walls within an outer moat.

Until the autonomy of Belgium from the United Netherlands in 1830 the city of Antwerp was defended by the Spanish Walls and the riverside fortresses. The whole of the country was defended by some 20 fortified cities. After the rise of Napoleon III in 1851 it became apparent that the young Belgian state had an outdated army and defensive structure. It was decided that the important port city of Antwerp should be better defended by the erection of 7 small fortresses built in earth and stone and topped with wooden palisades. At the time the small fortresses were built hastily a few hundred yards around the existing defences, the ideas about fortifications were changing.

The French fortresses had a bastioned layout and a basic square or rectangular shape. German fortresses were considerably more reliable. So in 1846 Brialmont was sent to Germany to study fortress building. These German fortresses had a polygonal shape with caponiers and internal defensive rings. Brialmont formulated a plan for the Fortified Positions of Liège and Antwerp. The Fortifications Act of 1859 made his vision possible and work commenced in Antwerp in 1860. Brialmont had proposed a polygonal girdle to be built at 2 kilometres from the old Spanish Walls, thus encompassing the villages of Borgerhout and Berchem. He had based this design on the ideas of Marquis Montalembert, a French military engineer. This new defensive wall increased the surface area of the city six fold.

The city of Antwerp around 1900 has now completely filled in the space within the Brialmont-Walls. The harbour had been expanded northwards with the Kattendijkdok (D1), Houtdok (D2), Kempisch Dok (D3), Asiadok (D4) and Sasdok (D5) stretching out from the older Bonapartedok (D6) and Willemsdok (D7) that were both constructed between 1811 and 1813 to replace the 16th-century Noordervliet and Middelvliet. Damme (D) has been developed as a result of its close proximity to the harbour docks with housing and industry. Borgerhout (B) has been completely developed intra muros. On the edge of the old city the new Central Station (S), Zoo (Z) and City Park (P) form a high status cluster at the heart of the enlarged city. Berghem (b) has been completely urbanised in the typical Paris-inspired star-like middle and upper-class neighbourhoods with a park where once the gallows (G) stood on the edge of the city freedom. The Citadel was demolished and replaced by docks and a new neighbourhood with cultural and public buildings to form 't Zuid (tZ). The former city moat was filled in and replaced by a boulevard (shown in green) lined with representative buildings.

Outside this new defensive wall with lunettes and a moat with glacis 8 outlying fortresses were built. These were positioned 2.8 - 4.5 kilometres away from the new defensive walls at regular intervals of 2 kilometres. These new fortresses curved around the city from the Scheldt at Hoboken op to Wijnegem in the northeast. To the north no fortresses were built as these polders could be easily inundated. Building work on these fortifications took a mere 5 years and was completed by 1866. The existing fortresses on the left bank of the Scheldt in the Waasland were remodelled and improved. To complete the girdle of fortresses two new fortresses were built on the left bank between 1870 and 1880: Fort Eepoel and Fort van Zwijndrecht. Also an extra fortress was added north of the Kempische Vaart (Campine Shipping Canal): Fort van Merksem (1879).

Each fortress had a similar layout with a 40 to 50 metre wide moat surrounding the defensive structure. Beyond these moats, that were aimed at making a direct surge on the fortress impossible, a sloping glacis was created. The structure within the moat consisted of the fortress built in brick and concrete and covered by high earth banks and a separate reduit built in brick and again covered in earth that was connected to the fortress by a bridge and placed within the moat. The reduit was the final defence from where the fortress could be defended even if the enemy had gained access to the rest of the fortress.

The Fortified Position of Antwerp (Stelling van Antwerpen) by Brialmont with an inner ring that ran from the Noordkasteel (N) to the Kielstelling near the relocated village of Kiel (nK). Three lunets (L1-3) stood before this inner wall. Two of the old, small forts in Berghem (f1) and Deurne (f2) are still in place. The outer ring of polygonal fortresses starts at Fort Merksem (fM) and continues across the Kempische Vaart (V) to the ring of fortresses (F1-8) and then across the river via Fort Eepoel (fE) and Fort Zwijndrecht (fZ) to Fort Sint Marie (fS). The Brialmont fortresses 1 to 8 are often named after the nearby villages: Oosterweel (O), Wijnegem, Schoten (S), Merksem (M), Deurne (D), Eksterlaar (E), Groenenhoek (G), Borsbeek (B), Mortsel (Mr), Luythagen (L), Wilrijk (W), Hoboken (H),Kruibeke (K) and Zwijndrecht (Z).

After WW2 the Brialmont-walls would be replaced by the Motorway R1 that still run through the massively expanded city of Antwerp that now incorporates most of the former villages around it.

The city of Antwerp part 4: the completion of the fortified city

During Antwerp's so-called Golden Age, that lasted from 1490 until 1565, the city grew rapidly and most of the area within the defensive walls and moat was developed. On the north side of the city further expansion was pre-empted by the development of the Nieuwstad (literally: New City). This Golden Age was preluded by a rapid increase in the number of institutions within Antwerp during the whole of the fifteenth century.

Around 1400 the Vlasmarkt (Flax Market) was built. In 1408 the Carmelite nuns founded their convent. Shortly after, in 1409, two burgomasters were sworn in; one for the inner burgh and one for the outer burgh respectively. This new self governance lead to a rapid increase in trade and this lead to the foundation of more religious institutions: Cistercian Monastery (1433), Friars Minor Monastery (1446), Dulhuis (Insane Asylum - 1453), St. Clare Convent (1461), De Munt (The Mint -1474), Chapel of Grace (1493), Chapel of Jesus (1493), Alexian Chapel and Cellites Monastery (1494), Burgundy Chapel (1497), Refuge house of the St Bernard Abbey (1498) and several foundations for the poor that were called Godshuizen (God's Houses) often aimed at specific groups. This pattern continued into the early part of the sixteenth century: IJzerenwaag (Metal Weigh House - 1505), Church of St. Jacob (1506), Chapel of St Anna (1513), Augustinian Monastery (1514), Oude Waag (Old Weigh House - 1514), Hof van Liere (Manorial Court of Lierre - 1515), Ossenmarkt (Ox Market - 1522), Church of St Andrew (1529), Nieuwe Beurs (New Bourse - 1532), New Courts Beguinages (1546), Nieuwe Waag (New Weigh House - 1547), Friday Market (1548), Grain Market (1552), Tapissierspand (Tapistry Hall - 1555), Gildehuis (Guild Hall (1563) and the new City Hall (Stadhuis - 1565). The new city hall of Antwerp was the crowning glory of the cities Golden Age, as after this turmoil ensued which in the end lead to the splitting up of the Netherlands in the northern Republic of the Seven United Provinces and the Southern or Spanish Netherland in 1585.

The new religious institutions were mostly located outside the crowded old city as land was cheaper in the semi-rural areas within the city moat and walls. The Carmelite Convent (M1), Carthusian Monastery (M6), Friars Minor (M3), Clara Convent (M4), Augustinian Monastery (M5), The Chapel of Grace (C1), Jesus Chapel (C2), Alexians Monastery and Chapel (C3), Burgundy Chapel (C4), Church of St Jacob (C5), Chapel of St Anna (C6) and the Church of St Andrew (C7) are all located beyond the old city. Also within this rapidly urbanising area we see IJzerwaag (IJ), Nieuwe Waag (nW), Nieuwe Beurs (nB), Mint (M), Hof van Liere (L), Ossenmarkt (O), Begijnhof (B), Tapissierspand (T) and Graanmarkt (G). Some of these replaced similar amenities within the old city: Oude Beurs (oB) and Oude Waag (oW). Within the old city some land could still be developed: Friday Market (F), Vlasmarkt (V) and the new City Hall (H).   

In the 1530s, as a result of a siege on the city, the city councillors decided to modernise the city's defences to come in line with the then current attack weapons. This new defensive structure with a bastioned outer wall with enforced earth banks was completed in 1542. At the same time the plans for a northerly expansion were drawn. The new moats and defences around this Nieuwstad were completed in 1552. It was aimed at better facilitating trade and shipping, so the old city moat of Brouwersvliet was dredged to provide better docking facilities. North of this two new so-called vlieten were excavated as harbour docks. The ground around the docks was raised with the spoil and by bringing in sand from further afield. The Nieuwstad was laid out in an orthogonal manner to be most attractive for wharfs, goods yards and warehouses. Trade in Antwerp was basically foreign controlled, with the city governed by a small clique of bankers and manufacturers. During its Golden Age the city experienced three distinct booms. The first was bases on the pepper trade with the East Indies, the second on silver from the Americas and the third on textile manufacturing and trading.

The turning point for Antwerp were the violent riots of August 1566 as a result of the Protestant Reformation that resulted in the well known Iconoclasm that saw many Catholic churches and religious institutions looted and trashed. To control this uprising in the Low Countries the King of Spain sent the Duke of Alba as the new governor to re-establish control. He immediately started work on a large citadel south of the city, that was completed in 1567. The walls, bastions and moats were to be extended to connect this citadel (called 't Zuiderkasteel in Dutch) to the rest of the city's defences. During the period of Calvinist Rule (1577-1585), when the city of Antwerp was part of the Republic, the defences were completed and the ferry landing point on the other side of the Scheldt was fortified by the erection of a bulwark called Vlaams Hoofd (The Head of Flanders) between 1577 and 1584.

After the city had been recaptured by the Spanish in 1584, the role of Antwerp as a leading merchant city was over. Most of the traders, merchants, bankers and craftsmen had fled north to Dordrecht, Leiden, Harlem and Amsterdam. To reinvigorate the city the Spanish rulers reinstated the churches, convents and monasteries and made funds available for new foundations: Jesuit Church (1615), Refuge House of St Catherine (1619), Convent of the Sisters Capuchins (1619), Carthusian Monastery (1639) and Grey Sister Convent (1693).

The city of Antwerp with the so-called Spanish Walls that start at the Nieuwstad (N)and end at the Zuiderkasteel (Z) or Citadel. Across the Scheldt the Bulwark of Flemish Head (FH) defended the river.