Tuindorp De Riet: how the medieval landscape shaped urbanisation

The Garden Village De Riet in Almelo has a rather peculiar elongated shape with an undulating street that connects a main thoroughfare (Bornsestraat) with the train station via a number of garden squares and greens, Two additional curved streets run of the garden square at the "entrance", one of which ends in a small green and another at the edge of a small park. In between there are two additional shorter streets that run more or less parallel and end in a green. Unwinesque design principles clearly favour a village-like setup with a central space within a nuclear layout, short streets and T-junctions. The grounds that could be acquired limited the design of the garden village De Riet. The result is a very creative solution that translates the underlying medieval landscape of farmsteads and fields into a new (sub)urban environment.

The estate of De Riet in green under the garden village, shows how the land available was used to maximise the number of dwellings but also adhere to most of the design principles laid down by Raymond Unwin. The other landholdings are outlined in green and can be translated into subsequent additions and expansions.

In Twenthe and Drenthe large estates with several farms were commonplace right into the 20th century. Ownership is held by the -often urban- elite, although in Almelo much land was owned by the Lord of the Manor (the Count of Rechteren Limpurg). It was on his land that the first social housing was developed in Westeres not far from Almelo House.  The situation south of the town was different with many estates owned by other individuals interspersed by smaller manorial landholdings. The pattern is typical for medieval cultivation on sandy soils with rounded fields that mark the initial sites with more regular parcels adjacent. The rural lanes follow the land and twist and turn. More often than not the lane runs across the farmyard.

In the Lower-Saxon part of the Netherlands farms are named for the owner or for a certain characteristic. Farms with names ending in -ing or -ink are common in both Drenthe and Twenthe, but are absent in this location; names ending in -man and -boer are present though. Most names refer to the owner or occupant of the farm ('t Knaap, 't Kobus, 't Fekkert, 't Lammerts, de Mooyman, 't Straatman and Dikke Hendrik) or the situation ('t Revenboer, 't Schöppenboer, 't Muisebelt, 't Fenmerhuis, de Juppele, 't Steege, 't Nieuwland, De Riet and Reigers Hofte). The latter is the initial manorial farm, the name is a reference to a place with herons. The wet ground is also alluded to in De Riet (on the stream), 't Muisebelt (swampy hump), de Lage Kuyle (the low pit) and 't Fenmerhuis (house on a peat bog). The Farm 't Nieuwland (the new land) was split in 't Groot Nieuwland and 't Klein Nieuwland. Similarly 't Reigershofte was split (the daughter farm being Schöppenboer, a name referring to a barn), as well as De Riet (the name de Buitenriet refers to the location on the other side of the stream the Weezebeek).

The original landscape of farms and rural lanes underlying the garden village De Riet. Although the garden village was named for the farms De Riet (R1) and Buitenriet (R2) at the southernmost end the land also included the fields of 't Reigers Hofte (RH) and 't Revenboer (a reve is a narrow strip of land). This Farm 't Revenboer (R) is clustered with 't Muisebelt (M).The large garden square is located between 't Langhuis (L) and a cluster of houses on what used to be the farm De Poffert (P). The small farms on the westside were developed field by field, these include: 't Fekkert (F1), de Lage Kuile (LK), 't Kobus (K), 't Schöppenboer (S1), Dikke Hendrik (DH), 't Steege (S2), 't Straatman (S3), 't Fenmerhuis (F2) and 't Lammerts (L). The postwar expansion took place on land of the farms 't Groot Nieuwland (gN), 't Klein Nieuwland (kN) and de Juppele (J).The farms 't Mooyman and 't Knaap aren't shown.

Tuindorp De Riet: social housing in Almelo

The textile trading firm of H. ten Cate Hzn. & Co. is first mentioned in 1704, but is known to already have existed in 1691. These so-called fabrikeurs bought finished cloth from home weavers and sold them on. From the early nineteenth century the trading company grew into an important industrial textile manufacturer that has always been based in Almelo. Egbert I, Egbert II and Egbert II ten Cate have played an important role in expanding the family firm and the industrialisation of textile production in Twenthe. Egbert IV ten Cate -who died in 1955- was the last of these so-called textile barons. With his death the company ceased to be a family firm and became an unlimited company (NV in Dutch). The company has been restructured several times since then and is now active in the production of technical fabrics and artificial textiles. Textile undergarments are still sold under the name Ten Cate, but they are produced by a different company.

After the railway had been opened in 1865 the number of (textile) factories quickly grew, creating a need for more labourers and more housing. This was at first provided by erecting German-style tenement blocks that resembled barracks rather than homes and had few facilities. Around 1900 the realisation takes hold that bad living conditions of the workforce hampers industrial output. The first to argue for improved housing for the working classes are the liberal elite, which often included factory owners. The 1901 Social Housing Act (Woningwet) meant towns and cities were now obliged to provide housing of a certain standard. The Social Housing Act also facilitated the foundation of Building Societies (Woningbouwverenigingen) and Housing Cooperatives (Woningcorporaties) that could loan money for house building at a reduced rate (guaranteed by the government or the city). Several industrialists funded their own Building Societies, in order to create more and better housing for the workers. This wasn't an act of kindness however, but well-understood self-interest.

This first resulted in a plan to build on the Westeres (1904). The planning application was approved in 1908. Work started in 1910. Building Society Popular Interest (Bouwvereniging Volksbelang) has 124 working-class homes built on the site. In 1913 the last of the new residents moved in. This Tuindorp Westeres isn't based on the ideas of the Garden City Movement, but a rather densely built-up urban quarter along the lines of German examples of social housing.

In 1914 new social housing between the town centre of Almelo and the railway line is proposed. For this a Farm called De Riet is bought by the Almelose Woonstichting Beter Wonen (Almelo Housing Foundation -for- Better Living). This long strip of land was to be the first of many acquisitions, but prices where soon increased. So in 1916 a plan was drawn up for the first phase of this Tuindorp De Riet, a garden village named after the original farm. The name of the farm De Riet translates literally as The Reed, but should be understood as 'by the small stream' (derived from the Saxon ridhe). The name is a reference to the  Weezebeek an artificial stream that drained the Reigershofte and Molenbroek.

The first houses in the garden village are completed in 1918. The works started on the Bornsestraat, the pre-existing thoroughfare connecting Almelo and Borne. The buildings were erected in 4 distinct tranches: tranche 1 1918-19, tranche 2 1920-21, tranche 3 1925 and tranche 4 1928-29. The oddly shaped site is used maximally for housing. The streets often end in garden squares and public gardens. In 1926 the railway stop De Riet is opened. A proper railway station is, however, not built until 1957. Along side streets and on small parcels of land builder-developers build some typical semidetached middle-class houses.

In 1930 a planning application for the expansion of the garden village is submitted. This planning application is approved in 1934. The plan involves an expansion near the railway stop centred on a small park. A builder-developer had acquired a large farm on the Bornsestraat in 1930 and develops this land for middle-class housing. In 1939 The Housing Foundation can buy the farm 't Nieuwland (The New Land). In 1943 a plan for expanding the garden village further east is approved. Due to the occupation and the shortage of materials, building work doesn't start until 1947, two years after WW2 had ended. This housing differs greatly as it is built along a series of parallel streets. Each street was given a different architecture. The result however doesn't replicate the variety of the older garden village as was intended. In 1967 a number of small semidetached houses are torn down  to make way for a large home for the elderly. The schools that were included in the garden village scheme have become obsolete and are being changed into apartments. Some of the poorly constructed housing from the 1950s was replaced in the 1980s and 1990s.

The garden village De Riet is part of the neighbourhood of the same name. Most of the buildings were developed here after the initial garden village housing. The garden village (shown in grey) Extends from the Weth. E. van Dronkelaarplein (1) on the Bornsestraat via two garden squares (2) to the railway stop De Riet (r) and beyond towards the Weezebeek.The small park near the station (3) was in place before the houses in the 1930s section (4) were built. In the same period the St Egidius-neigbourhood was built next to a new school (s) a second school sits at the heart of the garden village not far from the hostel (h) for single employees. The post-war extension (6) is shown in lighter gray. In this period a home for the elderly (e) is built next to a third school. A small industrial estate (i) is part of the garden village, but is wasn't designed or built by the Housing Foundation.

Window box 1: maximum impact with red and green

On the colour wheel red and green are on opposite sides. This means that these two colours combined create the greatest contrast possible for these colours (the other two maximum contrast pairs are: violet with yellow and blue with orange). The red-green contrast is especially exploited by plants aimed at birds and [primates. Thus humans also tend to focus on red flowers against the background of green leaves. In window boxes this is used to great effect.

 

Bronze-green leaves and deep red Ivy- leaved Pelargonium (left) make for an almost tonal contrast. Red Pelargonium (here a single zonal type) can also be combined with Ivy (middle). The yellow variegation of the Ivy tones down the combination. A less variegated ivy makes for a less yellow leaf that is combined with deep red Kalanchoe.(right) creating a less than maximum contrast.  

Tuindorp 't Lansink: the first Unwinesque garden village in the Netherlands

Garden village 't Lansink is characterised by lightly curved streets with houses set in private garden, mostly as semidetached dwellings but sometimes in short terraces or fully detached. The streets never had the  narrow green verges with small trees that are so distinctive in the English examples. Only the streets leading to the central square had trees. Off course none of these early garden villages make any provisions for the motorcar that often dominate the street nowadays. Originally al the street were Macadam-roads.

The large sand pit was transformed into a spatial quality by surrounding is by a narrow park-like public garden. The water was -and still is- used for skating, boating and swimming. The large open space and reflective surface of the water creates an enormous sense of space and ads to the distinctive feel of the place.

Around the small lake large semidetached and detached houses have been built. Together with a planted canal -a relic of a former "watering", a drainage stream- this is the most representative residential area within the garden village.

There is a mix of house types also in the representative area, as both visual variation and social mixing were important for the Stork family who commissioned the design. The former drainage channel, called watering in Dutch, has been transformed into a formal tree-lined canal.

Towards the central square the buildings are set closer together, mimicking the spatial layout of a true village. The buildings were designed in a mix of styles, all referencing vernacular architecture. The turret on the corner house isn't only a picturesque addition to the building, but also serves as a spatial anchor in the design defining a line of sight from a side street.

A covered walk along a row of shops on one side of the central square is an expression of the intended central function of this space by giving the building a more formal, non-residential expression. This is in sharp contrast with the treatment of the residential building that are  intended to express a rural, non-urban, character (as shown on the right).

On the central square some rows of old oaks were retained to give the space a sense of place and age. These trees once formed the side of the farmyard of the Farm Het Lansink. Instead of the farm the Hotel 't Lansink (on the right) now stands here proudly on the corner of the C.T. Storkplein (the central square).

Opposite the hotel building an Unwinesque solution for the corner is implemented with a winged. asymmetrical ensemble of two shops (green grocer and barber) on either side of a gate that gives access to a footpath. The shops are no longer in use an have been changed into a family house.

Next to the hotel the former toddler school (Kleuterschool) forms a suburban ensemble together with the head teacher's house built onto it. This ensemble dominated this corner. The tower with clock above the hotel entrance replaces the function of the village church.

The architecture is vary varied, with on the one hand building inspired by vernacular Dutch examples of urban houses, like several types with stepped gables as seen on the left. In other places the building are of a more eclectic vernacular expression mixing both Dutch and German examples (on the right). As Twenthe lies close to the German border these types wouldn't be seen as unbefitting.

The smallest housing types for factory workers were built in terraces of 4 dwellings. In keeping with the rural references of the architecture the bedrooms are located under the roof. Here a Mansard roof is used to provide more room and the dormers provide ample light and fresh air to the bedrooms. The smallest workman's house always had a kitchen, living room sitting room, cellar and a minimum of three bedrooms. Houses with the lowest rent had a bath underneath the kitchen worktop. All other houses had a proper -albeit often tiny- bathroom  

English vernacular architecture was also an inspiration for the building in Garden Village 't Lansink. These buildings combine a brick ground floor with render higher on the facade. The buildings in the "English Style" are characterised by high gable ends perpendicular to the main roof and the use of bay windows.   

This little close (woonhofje in Dutch) was also based on English examples. The short terraces of whitewashed houses are grouped around a communal garden. The window shutters and central well all add to the intended village feel. This garden, together with the public gardens and front gardens were designed by the famous landscape architects P.  Wattez and L. Springer. All private front gardens originally had a low fence on a brick base.