Tuindorp Pathmos: the suburban garden city ideal realised

The garden village Pathmos in Enschede is one of the best early examples of social housing (1914-1928) along the lines of the principles of the Garden City Movement in the Netherlands. It takes direct inspiration from English examples of cottage estates built by the LCC. This (sub)urban ensemble is still intact and in use as social housing. The architect seems to have also been involved in the design of De Riet garden village in Almelo as the details and housing types are very similar.

This impressive gate on the Haaksbergerstraat between two double shops creates a formal entrance to the garden village and emphasises its uniqueness. The gate on this side was to be used by the workers employed by the Jannink family in their factories further along this main road.

After the initial gate a second gate presents itself in white flanked by short terraces in the typical red brick and orange clay roof tiles. The dwellings on the corners are emphasised by rotating the roofline.

The Spinnerplein (Spinner Square) is a roundabout with a small public garden at its centre. The Pathmosstraat (Pathmos Street) runs through here. This square is located where once the mansion Pathmos House stood.

The building line follows the street space it envelopes thus adding to the desired spatial effect. This spatial design device is often used in garden villages along Unwinesque design principles.

Most streets have a gentle curve with long terraces of working-class housing. The long terraces are visually broken up by the triangular protruding gables and the rhythmically placed dormers. The roofline usually runs parallel to the street in Dutch garden villages.

The bulk of the housing has been built in red brick that was produced locally. The doors received special treatment with the addition of an upper ledge with sculpted supports. The windows are of a simple construction and are still painted in the original colour combination of moss green and cream.

The junction of Spinnerstraat (Spinner Street) and Weverstraat (Weaver Street) opens up into a informal square with shops in an arcade on one side and a large complex with community hall, school and medical post on the other side.

Most streets with the smaller types of working-class housing have no front gardens. This was a common feature of such garden villages in the Netherlands that were built on the instigation of industrialists, as it was feared that neglected front gardens would lead to an unsightly frontage and even vermin. The streets would have been planted with trees however. These have been replanted in some streets, but most are now laid out to provide street side parking.

Great attention is paid to the corners. Here an inverted corner with a (former) corner shop on each corner of the angled volume. The shops on the corner of the Bombazijnstraat (Bombasine Street) and Ververstraat (Dyer Street)  are very distinctive with the large shop windows.

At the heart of the garden village a small park was planted, although in name it is a square (Ainsworthplein). It has a large pond with fountain, playground, grass, trees and flowerbeds. This central green space commemorates Thomas Ainsworth, an English textile technician who laid the basis for the textile industry of Twenthe.

Small greens with houses curved around it, are located at the junction of the Ruwerstraat (Rougher Street) and Buitenweg (Outer Road) with the Sterkerstraat (Starcher Street). The smaller of the two is the one on Ruwerstraat shown here.

On some corners a covered porch is used to emphasise the corner of a block where two houses meet. In other places two sections of the block are angled to create a concave building line, opening up the corner. In some places the buildings are built in brick that is painted white. This was done to break the possible monotony of the red brick buildings.

The houses that wrap around the large green on the edge of the Ainsworthplein at the beginning of the Buitenweg have all been painted white. This provides a sharp contrast between the green of the leaves, the white of the facades and the bright orange of the clay roof tiles.

The central ensemble with central gate on the junction of the Sterkerstraat and Calicotstraat (Calico Street) also stands out in the same way from the surrounding housing in red brick. The formal symmetrical ensemble lies at the heart of the Janninksbleek section of the garden village Pathmos.

The wide Pathmossingel (Pathmos Belt road, literally encircling road) is planted with large trees. The long terraces of low houses in red brick follow the curves of the road as it snakes through the garden village.

Tuindorp Pathmos: working-class housing in Enschede

Anyone looking around the city of Enschede now will find it hard to believe that this was once the second largest textile centre in the world, only Manchester produced more in the late eighteen-hundreds. It was the Van Heek family - who together with the Ten Cate family introduced steam-powered textile production in Twenthe in 1850- that was responsible for the rapid growth and industrialisation of the region. Twenthe was a poor region populated mostly by catholic crofters and home weavers. This was seen as attractive as Catholics were believed to be more docile. For the paupers and crofters the prospect of having a steady income with set working hours was attractive enough to seek employment in one of the textile factories.

In 1780 H.J. van Heek starts a textile trading firm with the help of his father-in-law. When his sons enter the firm in 1810 the name is changed to H.J. van Heek en Zonen. H.J. van Heek junior, G.J. van Heek and H. van Heek -the grandsons of H.J. van Heek-  in 1859 start their own company manufacturing cotton and other textiles. Thus a number of separate firms, owned by the same family, came into being. As production grew so did the profits. The company owners invested their gains in large estates and mansions. They were known as the textile barons of Twenthe. The families Van Heek, Ter Kuile, Menko, Blijdenstein and Jannink effectively formed an oligarchy.

As liberals the Van Heek family was actively involved in the promotion of the improvement of the living conditions of the working classes and prohibition. H.J. van Heek bequeathed his estate Goolkate to the people of Enschede (1872) to spend their free time in nature instead of drinking alcohol in this new Volkspark (Peoples Park). Similarly his grandson G.J. van Heek bequeathed the land adjoining the estate Lochemsbleek to the people for a new park in 1918. His brother Herman van Heek owned Het Pathmos, an estate located on former heathland south of the town of Enschede. He had named it for the Greek island of the same name, where the Cave of the Apocalypse is located that is said to be the place where John the Apostle wrote his Book of Revelation. It was on this estate that a large garden village would be built from 1914 onwards.

The first purpose-built workman's housing were located in a small neighbourhood called De Krim, completed in 1861. Similar housing was built around Enschede: Sebastopol, Hoog en Droog and 't Overschot. All were characterised by small low houses with two rooms and a kitchen in a lean-to on parallel narrow unpaved streets. Anyone who was able to leave this semi-squalid housing did so. This lead to an influx of gypsies and street vendors and further deterioration into slums. From 1900 onwards calls are made for more appropriate housing and the demolition of existing slums.

In 1907 the Vereeniging de Volkswoning (Association -for- the People's Home) was founded as a direct result of the 1901 Woningwet. This Housing Association commissioned architect W.K. de Wijs with the creation of  a large estate for working-class housing. The spatial plan was drafted by A.H. op ten Noort, head of the Enschede Public Works Department. In his layout he included a section of a new circular road which was part of his local plan for the expansion of Enschede. Along the proposed route of the circular road more new housing estates were planned: het Zwik. het Perik, Hogelanden, Laares, Veldkamp and 't Zeggelt.

The garden village Pathmos was built between 1914 and 1928 according to "modern" insights on urban design following English examples. Of the 1386 dwellings, 1209 were built on behalf of De Volkswoning. The rest was constructed for smaller housing associations. The central point in the layout is a garden square called the Thomas Ainsworthplein. Another square (Spinnersplein) was built at the site of the former mansion Pathmos which gave its name to the garden village. There are 9 basic house types in 89 variants. The garden village was a complete social and spatial entity and included shops, schools, a bathhouse, a community centre and public gardens. All the streets are named for textile manufacturing (Weaver Street, Twill Street, Calico Street, Spool Street and so on).

The garden village was constructed in several consecutive building campaigns. The Pathmossingel (Pathmos Belt-road) was completed between 1919 and 1921. The housing on the eastern side followed suit and was completed by 1920.This part of Tuindorp Pathmos is also known as Janninksbleek the name of this former bleaching field.

In 1927 the garden village was expanded on the north side with an additional 226 dwellings. This section quickly became known as Drents Dorp (Drenthe Village) due to the majority of the resident being from the Peat Colonies of Drenthe. These houses were of poor construction and have been demolished and replaced by new social and affordable housing. Het Pathmos was restored in 1979 and again relatively recently (2003). The houses are still owned by the housing association and rented out at affordable rates.

The layout of the garden village Pathmos shows a clear influence from English examples, mostly ones by G. Topham Forrest (like the Tower Gardens Estate) with the curved parkway (1) that is part of a circular road system. At the heart of the garden village we find a small park (2) that is purely residential and not linked to a formal ensemble of amenities. Greens of variable size dominate the Tuindorp Pathmos (3) which has a formal gate (G) and enclosed square (p) leading up to the amenities cluster with a community hall (h) and a school (s). Another school was built on the edge of the garden village. Just beyond a church (c) was built. The eastern section on the Janninksbleek (4) has a central ensemble on a public garden with a formal gate (G). The Drents Dorp (5) was added on the north side. The buildings in lighter shade of grey were built around 2005 in a style in keeping with the listed buildings (shown in dark grey).

Window box 2: pretty pink petunia

Petunias belong to the nightshade family and are closely related to tobacco. The wild species stem from South America. The plants grown as bedding plants and in window boxes are complex hybrids (Petunia x atkinsia). The small-flowered types aren't petunias at all they belong to the genus Calibrachoa. The wild colours range from white to deep violet via lilac, cherry red and soft pink. Through genetic alteration and crossbreeding races with cream yellow flowers, orangey and almost black flowers have been created. Yellow and orange are naturally present in Calibrachoa x hybrida  (also known as Million Bells).

A typical bright pink petunia, contrasting heavily with the rusty tones of the metal planter (left). I especially like this combination of veined pink blooms with the deep magenta flowers with a dark eye and the clear white blooms. Some people combine petunias with other plants like Sweet Alison (Lobularia) offsetting the deep magenta flowers and the purple flowers with a white edge (on the right).The slate grey planter tones the bright colours down considerably.

Tuindorp De Riet: the simplicity of vernacular design in brick.

The garden village presents itself from the Bornsestraat with al large expanse of green. This garden square (Weth. E. va Drinkelaarplein) is laid to grass and planted with trees and shrubs. On the central axis a war memorial has been placed. At the end of the axis the workman's school (Ambachtsschool) was built.

The former workman's school (left has been changed into luxury apartments. Workman's school were an important form of secondary education for the working classes. This explains the prominent position within the garden village De Riet. The streets with short rows of terraced housing follow the curved streets (shown right).

In line with Unwinesque design principles long lines of sight along straight streets are avoided by creating a layout of  short and curved streets with T-sections. The corners are emphasised by angling part of the building at the corner.

The simple brick architecture relies on simple decoration. For this a brick fries underneath the eave created by using hot-fired purple-brown brick in a simple pattern band. The openings in the facade are emphasised by a subtle protruding ridge over a soldier course.

Another example of an Unwinesque corner treatment with a symmetrical volume of 4 homes that is shaped like a C by angling the corners forwards under 45°. The side thus runs parallel to the terraced housing in the side street which is favourable for maximal parcelation.

The houses in the 1930's middle-class neighbourhoods were tacked onto the original garden village, but don't cash with the overall feel of the place. The houses are semidetached, higher and have different roof shapes. Also, there is more variation in the colour of brick used for the outer skin of the building.

Along the central street (Rietstraat, named after the former Farm of De Riet) the street space is widened where is crosses the Violierstraat, the circular road that was created as part of the development of the garden village. The houses that curve around this garden square have been painted white and thus stand out in this otherwise red garden village.

Corner plots often make it difficult to provide a garden, so these were used for corner shops -this has been commonplace since the middle ages. The Dutch word for shop -winkel- originally meant: "on a corner". In this garden village the corners are treated differently to emphasise their role in the whole spatial composition, as well as signalling the different use. In contrast to many other garden villages I've seen, most corner shops are still used as such.

Widening a street for a public garden is also used at the edges of the garden village where the side streets used to end, unconnected to the building phase planned for the future. These simple housed with large dormers are in the section date from the 1920's 

On this shop the year of completion of this phase of the garden village in 1922 is proudly communicated in large letters. Many of the workers houses had no front garden but were built directly onto the pavement. It was deemed inappropriate to have a small front garden as these might not be maintained, and also a larger back garden was seen as more useful (not an erroneous sentiment as far as I'm concerned!).

The building along the edge of the park and along some side streets were built in the 1930's. These buildings are also built in terraces, but with higher roofs and a slightly darker brick that is more brown-red. Also the roof tiles are less orange-red but a rather deeper red colour. These buildings don't clash with the earlier sections of the garden village however.