Dictionary of


Art  &  Artist




 

 Hendrik Petrus Berlage

 

Hendrik Petrus Berlage  

(b Amsterdam, 21 Feb 1856; d The Hague, 12 Aug 1934).

Dutch architect, urban planner and writer. He abandoned early his intention to become a painter and instead trained in architecture at the Bauschule of the Eidgenössiche Polytechnikum (now Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) in Zurich under Gottfried Semper’s followers. Semper was a major influence on Berlage, especially for Berlage’s emphatic use of a variety of materials and an acute attention to construction. The other major influence was the work of Viollet-le-Duc. After his training Berlage visited Germany and Italy from 1878 to 1881, returning to Amsterdam to become an associate of the classicist architect and businessman Theodorus Sanders, who very soon handed over to him the task of designing. The shop and office-block for Focke & Meltzer (1884–5), Kalverstraat, Amsterdam, was critically acclaimed for its correct application of the Venetian Renaissance style favoured by Semper and for the grandeur of its shopping area, with its unusually large windows. Berlage voiced doubts in 1886 about the imitation of earlier styles, and in 1889 he protested strongly against both imitation and the falsification of materials.
 

The Hague municipal museum