Willem Diehl (1876-1959) Architect Willem Diehl settled in Arnhem in 1902.1) He was born in The Hague and educated in Belgium. Diehl brought with him from Belgium the Art Nouveau style and introduced the cottage style in Arnhem around 1907. He also became known for the Vesta building and the Luxor Theater, which has been called the "Tuschinski of the East. The Hague Willem Diehl was born in The Hague on January 25, 1876. His father, Hendrik Diehl, was a carpenter and also taught at the Ambachtsschool in The Hague for several years beginning in 1878. Willem Diehl trained as a carpenter at the Civil Evening School of the Ambachtsschool in The Hague from 1888 to 1890. Diehl probably worked for his father during the day. After completing this training, he studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague from 1892 to 1894. Nothing is known about architectural designs from Diehl's Hague period, and he was registered as a superintendent. Presumably he was an overseer of architectural work. It is known, however, that he was a member of the Amsterdam Society Architectura et Amicitia, as was his later brother-in-law and associate Emile Van Averbeke. Belgium In August 1898, Diehl settled in Antwerp. There he joined Emile Thielens' architectural firm at 5 Maria Theresialei. Van Averbeke also worked here, as a draftsman. The Thielens firm designed in an eclectic style. In 1900, both employees established their own firm under the name Van Averbeke & Diehl, located in Van Averbeke's parents' home at 26 Lang Kievitstraat. The agency existed for only two years. At that time, Diehl met Ida Louise Van Averbeke, one of his associate's sisters. He married her on Sept. 28, 1901. Neither architect apparently worked on an equal level, because although they are both mentioned in the building applications, with - one exception - only Van Averbeke's name is recorded in the buildings themselves. Diehl himself later signed several of his Arnhem works. Diehl and Van Averbeke worked in the style of Art Nouveau, which was fiercely criticized within Architectura et Amicitia. Both architects therefore cancelled their membership and joined the Kunstkring van De Scalden of Antwerp, called Maatschappij De Scalden for short. Diehl's Antwerp designs display characteristics that later also stood out in his Arnhem work: bay windows, loggias, balconies, far overhanging wooden gutters and horseshoe arches. He was also introduced to an urban development for which his Arnhem work would prove an inspiring example. This involved the construction of the Zurenborg district, which was intended for wealthy people who wanted "outside" but close to the city. The district was designed for a specially founded construction company. Most of the architects who participated were members of the Maatschappij de Scalden. Diehl was able to follow the developments in Zurenborg well, because the district was close to the office of Van Averbeke and him. In 1901 Van Averbeke and Diehl left for Brussels, perhaps because they expected more commissions there. Van Averbeke soon returned to Antwerp. The reason is not known. Both men remained good friends until Van Averbeke's death in 1946. Little is known about the work of Diehl, who lived on Waterloolaan in the borough of Ixelles. He was employed by the architect and furniture designer Georges Hobbé. This firm participated in the First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin in 1902. Possibly Diehl visited the exhibition or saw pictures of it, because his first Arnhem designs show influences of the Italian variant of Art Nouveau, the Arte Nuova. Arnhem In 1902, Diehl settled in Arnhem. His first designs in this city seem to have been influenced by the characteristic decorations of Raimondo d'Aronco's pavilions at the aforementioned exhibition in Turin. Diehl drew the entrance pavilion in Arnhem for the Exhibition of Applied Modern Art held at Musis Sacrum in 1903. A kiosk with waiting room for the horse streetcar to Velp is also closely related to the Italian example. Diehl's first major commission in Arnhem was the store building of the Belderbos firm on the corner of Zijpendaalseweg and Cronjéstraat. It the building has facades of white blingstone, plasterwork, balconies, ornamental needles and woodwork in the Arte Nuova style. Although it is now one of the best-known Art Nouveau-style buildings in the Netherlands, this architecture met with much opposition. G. Versteeg, the deputy director of Gemeentewerken in Arnhem, expressed his disapproval of the speculative buildings at Sonsbeek along Zijpendaalseweg in the 1911 Bouwkundig Weekblad. Many of these houses had been designed by Diehl or inspired by "his" Art Nouveau style. Versteeg added that thanks to the new beauty commission, clients of rejected designs could now be referred to expert architects. This resistance from the municipal works department and his conservative colleagues on the beauty committee was probably one of the reasons why Diehl soon moderated his style and opted for more conservative forms. As early as 1907, he was increasingly inspired by the cottage style, which can be recognized by the curved bay windows with their finely woven rods. There were also influences of the "Um 1800" style. Until that time, however, in the Transvaal neighborhood, north of downtown, there were still some large blocks of houses in Antwerp Art Nouveau style, with characteristic elements such as loggias with horseshoe arches, cantilevered bay windows on the second floor, ornamental needles and turrets. The most prominent block stands along Apeldoornseweg. The Transvaal neighborhood is an urban extension north of downtown. From the third quarter of the nineteenth century, parts of the Sonsbeek estate were built here. In 1899 the municipality bought a large part of the estate to preserve it as a city park. This limited the growth of the villa districts, but the villa parks already started benefited from the presence of this park. The villa parks were built by "developers" avant la lettre. In the case of the older Burgemeesterswijk this was Thomas Etty and in the case of the Transvaalbuurt the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van het Landgoed Sonsbeek, which was headed by Hendrik Kooij jr. The sites were developed in close consultation between the municipality and these entrepreneurs. Agreements stipulated that the municipality would take care of the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure. The operating companies could develop the building sites and sell or lease them. Diehl's task mainly involved designing attractive facades, while the residential houses behind them were furnished to the usual standard. Diehl's special contribution was that he introduced a new style from Antwerp. After Art Nouveau had fallen out of favor, he found another "modern" style that lent itself to his target market. The aforementioned cottage style perhaps suited even better the idea of 'outdoor' living close to the city. In addition to a large number of unusual houses in the urban extensions, Diehl also designed a number of striking buildings in and around the city center. Invariably, his designs bear witness to a great knowledge of international developments in architecture. For example, in 1920 he designed an office building on the corner of Kerkstraat and Pastoorstraat, which was clearly inspired by the large modern offices in American cities such as Chicago and New York. On Steenstraat and Velperweg, very modern garage buildings arose according to his plans. The company on Velperweg even had a two-story showroom, a kind of showcase for automobiles. A unique design is the Luxor theater, the "Tuschinski of the East," which, however, was built several years before the famous Amsterdam cinema. Luxor is one of the first cinema buildings in the Netherlands designed as such. The Art Nouveau- and Art Deco-style decorations in 'Egyptian' style are still largely present. In 1925 Diehl was commissioned to design café-restaurant Royal on Willemsplein. He designed a substantial brick building with a high, slate-covered hipped roof. In front of the building, which was demolished after World War II, was a huge terrace with a bright red and white striped awning running the full width of the facade. A few years later, when Diehl was commissioned for the Vesta insurance company's office, he reverted to the same massive brick construction. With this building, too, Diehl oriented himself to leading examples of Architecture. His source of inspiration was the Heidemaatschappij office in Arnhem, designed by K.P.C. de Bazel. Actually, it was already not so modern at that time, dating from 1912. Diehl was at the end of his career and could not or would not change his style again. And a few years later, several office buildings with flat, undecorated facades and steel windows sprung up in the area. Especially the nearby office of De Nederlanden of 1845, designed by W.M. Dudok, forms a strong contrast with the Vesta. Diehl's most important contribution to Dutch architecture is perhaps his Art Nouveau architecture, unusual for the Netherlands. However, because Art Nouveau quickly met with disapproval in the architectural world, he later wanted nothing more to do with it. To R. Blijstra, who wrote about Art Nouveau for the Forum magazine in 1958, he even declared that the Belderbos firm's store building, whose authorship he could not deny, did not belong to this movement.3) A year later, on June 5, 1959, Diehl died in Arnhem. Notes 1) The information in this text has been dissected from: H. Wentink, Willem Diehl. Architect in Arnhem, Utrecht 1998 (second edition: 2006). 2) G. Versteeg, 'Beauty commission and establishment for MTO at Arnhem', Bouwkundig Weekblad 31 (1911), p. 63-64. 3) R. Blijstra, 'List of buildings in Art Nouveau in some cities of our country', Forum 13 (1958), p. 330-332. List of houses in Arnhem, possibly designed by Diehl Bouriciusstraat, including no. 15 Burgemeesterplein 1 Burgemeesterplein 2 Burgemeestersplein 3 Sweerts de Landasstraat 103-109 Zijpendaalseweg 51-59 Education: Ambachtsschool The Hague/1888-1890;Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague/1892-1894