A.A. van Nieuwenhuyzen (1883-1959) Architect A.A. van Nieuwenhuyzen and Ph. van der Heyden established an architectural firm in Rotterdam in 1906, called Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Van der Heyden & Moerman. This is continued by Van Nieuwenhuyzen after Van der Heyden's death in 1939. Before World War II, Van Nieuwenhuyzen designs the Nederlandsche Economische Hoogeschool in Rotterdam and the Tivoli theater with restaurant, among other buildings. Van Nieuwenhuyzen collaborates with Cornelis Elffers. In Rotterdam, they design the branch of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij N.V. (NHM) on the Blaak. This building was built at the same time as the Amsterdamsche Bank-Incasso Bank and the Twentsche Bank in the period 19451947. The unity formed by the three bank buildings is striking and largely the result of the strict guidelines used by city architect W.G. Witteveen after World War II to shape the newly built city. The bombing of May 1940 turned the prewar branch of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij from 1917 designed by architect J. Verheul (18601948) into a ruin. The bank's management makes a case for rapid new construction and commissions architects Elffers and Van Nieuwenhuyzen for the design. The plan is ready in February 1942, but cannot be implemented because of the nationwide building freeze imposed by the occupying forces. The NHM maintains the construction agency and commissions the architects to further elaborate and detail the plans. This results in a total of 1850 drawings. With this design refined to the extreme, construction could begin in September 1945. The bank was built in a traditional and monumental architectural style, like many pre-war bank buildings. The complex has a substantial volume, with a light court providing sufficient daylight. The brick façade surfaces of yellow-brown hand-formed Waal stone are decorated with decorative brickwork, natural stone and sculptures by Dutch artists. To give the building a banking cachet, the windows of the ground floor and basement have wrought iron railings. The asymmetrically placed main entrance on Blaak is clearly marked by a stately portal with a bronze emblem of the NHM designed by artist Nel Klaassen and two groups of mermaids on the canopy. This main entrance gives access to a richly designed interior with lots of marble, paneling, ornaments and works of art. During the large-scale renovation of the complex of the Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappij in 1998-2000, the drawings file, consisting of 1,000 drawings, was found by architectural firm Kraaijvanger Urbis. The owner of the drawings, now Van den Berg Kruisheer Elffers Architectuur en Advisering, donated them to the NAI on that occasion. Because of the large quantity, a selection of the drawings has been included in the collection. This includes some drawings relating to the 1917 bank building destroyed in World War II. Note: the oeuvre of A.A. van Nieuwenhuyzen has not been (completely) inventoried.