A.P. Smits (1881-1957), H. Fels (1882-1962) and C. van de Linde (1886-1941) The joint oeuvre of Anthonie Pieter Smits and Hendrik Fels consists largely of country houses and villas in The Hague and its surroundings. From 1920 both architects went their separate ways. Smits remained primarily an architect of country houses, while Fels focused on industrial architecture. However, Fels also still designed several houses and both architects designed interiors and furniture. In their country house architecture, Smits and Fels strove for a coherence of interior and exterior. Through careful siting, the houses had to form one harmonious whole with the surrounding landscape. In their work they combined English country house architecture with the traditionalist rationalism of K.P.C. de Bazel. After De Bazel's death in 1923, Smits took over a number of commissions from his office, such as the synagogue in Enschede. But the most important part of Smits' work consists of country houses and villas. The archive of Smits available at the NAI covers his entire working period, including his collaboration with Fels and C. van de Linde. However, the archive contains only a fraction of the oeuvre actually built. The list of works found in Smits' archive shows that he designed more than just country houses and villas. But it also shows that he built more villas and country houses than those from which archives have survived. This list, on which BONAS' oeuvre list is based, was probably compiled by Smits' last associate, J. Lourijssen. The list does not always mention all the architects involved in a project and sometimes no architect is mentioned. In addition, it is difficult to get clarity on the architects involved because the architects also took on commissions independently of their partnership. Besides Fels, Smits also entered into a working partnership with C. van de Linde. Smits had to deal with Van de Linde when his friend and teacher K.P.C. de Bazel died in 1923. Van de Linde was De Bazel's bureau chief and, with A.D.N. van Gendt, completed the then under construction office building for the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij on Vijzelstraat in Amsterdam. In 1927, the bureau A.P. Smits and C. van de Linde was founded. Because of the lack of clarity about the architects involved and the changing partnerships, the oeuvre list of BONAS always mentions - as far as known - the individual architects and not the firm name Smits and Fels, or Smits and Van de Linde. Cornelis van de Linde 1886-1941 C. van de Linde was born in Kloetinge as the fourth son in a farming family of five boys and one girl. In nearby Goes, he received part of his education at the drawing school; at a young age he joined the Municipal Works Department of Goes. This service was headed by city architect F.G.C. Rothuizen. At the age of twenty-two, Van de Linde left Kloetinge and went to work for the Utrecht architect E.G. Wentinck, who had begun a major restoration of Nijenrode Castle in Breukelen. Here Van de Linde learned building practice while acquiring his theoretical knowledge in an evening course. It was a common path for many later architects, especially those from simple backgrounds. In 1911 he passed the architectural supervisor exam of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering van de Bouwkunst. In 1913 he married Cornelis Jacoba Brinkhuis, a tailor's daughter from Rheden. When Wentinck finished his work at Nijenrode, Van de Linde joined architect K.P.C. de Bazel in 1917, where he became chef de bureau. This he remained until De Bazel's sudden death in 1923. Architects who, like De Bazel, emphatically presented themselves as architects/artists, more often than not attracted figures for the execution of their work who had a more sober view of the building trade. In most cases, both benefited from each other's opposite qualities. The theosophical reflections of the ex-Catholic De Bazel may have influenced a reformed Zeeuw. The little that Van de Linde wrote about building, by the way, does not show this. After completing the office of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij on Vijzelstraat in Amsterdam, together with A.D.N. van Gendt, Van de Linde would execute another design by de Bazel, for a synagogue in Enschede. This time in collaboration with architect A.P. Smits with whom he had formed a firm in 1927. A year later, the firm received the commission to design an office building in the then Dutch East Indies for the Factorij Batavia of the Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij N.V., opposite the new railway station, located in the old lower town of Batavia, now Jakarta. It was to be a monumental building of about 100x100 meters in a square shape. Together with technical advisor of the NHM J.J.J. de Bruyn, Van de Linde made an orientation trip to India in 1928, and the preliminary design was made. Construction began in the fall of 1929, and Van de Linde would supervise the entire construction for four years. Simultaneously, another office building was designed and executed for the NHM in Medan. After returning to the Netherlands, Van de Linde and his partner realized many more villas and country houses, especially in the Gooi and the dune region. He died in 1941. The country house architecture of Smits and Fels, and Smits and Van de Linde The style of Smits, Fels and Van de Linde is an outgrowth of resistance to the historicizing styles, such as neoclassicism and the Old Dutch style, which were widely used in country house building. They were inspired by the British country house. The English country house style was combined with contemporary architectural developments, as initiated by H.P. Berlage and others. Smits and Fels and Van de Linde were also interested in Dutch country houses. Besides Berlage, K.P.C. de Bazel was also important in the development of the Dutch country house. His principles were simplicity, craftsmanship and the incorporation of seventeenth and eighteenth-century influences, but without copying historical styles. Smits' great example in this regard was De Bazel's De Maerle house (1906). For Smits, Fels and Van de Linde, tradition and craftsmanship were important, but that did not mean that they lost sight of contemporary requirements. In terms of functionality, Smits, Fels and Van de Linde tried to position the living rooms so that they received plenty of sunlight. In doing so, they took into account the privacy of the residents. The floor plans of their houses are often asymmetrical, as are the facades. Other features include the use of brick with decorative masonry and stained glass windows. Furthermore, they paid great attention to the transitions from inside to outside through the use of loggias, covered entrances and terraces. With the country houses and villas, there are unmistakable English influences. The composite roofs of De Spranck and Duynrose are clear examples. Another English influence is the pursuit of horizontality. This is expressed in low, wide facades under wide overhanging roofs. The tall and thick chimneys are in some cases almost literal English quotations. The bay windows and the wide, low windows under the eaves are also borrowed from English examples. While Fels and Van de Linde focused mainly on architecture and sometimes called in garden architects for later works, Smits also made garden designs. Smits based his designs on the idea that the house, the interior and the garden should form one whole. This was best achieved when the architect would design everything himself. Because house and garden had to fit into their surroundings, Smits immersed himself in garden and landscape architecture. In 1930, he even wrote a manual for the construction of rock gardens. Town houses, surrounded by buildings, were best given a geometric garden, according to Smits. The garden of a country house, on the other hand, had to dissolve, as it were, into the surrounding nature. The transition from garden to landscape was achieved by stylized landscaping around the house with pergolas and terraces. A different approach was necessary for each country house because each country house had a different environment.