(Bonas Essay by Drs. J.M.M. van der Vaart; abridged version) H.W. Valk 1886-1973 Hendrik Willem Valk was a versatile architect, or rather an artist/architect, who left his mark in several areas of architecture. Valk was heavily involved in public housing from the years immediately after World War I until the late 1920s. From 1925 he gradually shifted his attention to building churches. During the same period, we see that his designs were influenced by his growing affinity for craftsmanship in architecture. His designs became "Gesammtkunstwerken," in which he gave craftsmanship an important place. A shift also took place in the use of materials. Initially expressionistic in concept, his designs took on an almost symbolic character with historicizing references. His churches, chapels and villas of the 1930s, including his own residence, bear the hallmarks of a philosophy of life, in which the materials and formal language used work as a metaphor for tradition, a penchant for rural simplicity and craftsmanship. Background and education Hendrik Willem Johannes Valk was born on November 18, 1886 in Elst in the Over-Betuwe region. Although his father would have liked him to become a civil servant, young Hendrik decided to work for carpenter-furniture maker Hent de Best. In the evenings, Valk attended the evening drawing school. Then he attended the craft school in Nijmegen for the four-year course. It wasn't until March 1906 that he received his certificate from the school in Nijmegen. That same year, he applied to Nijmegen architect Frans Ludewich as a draftsman. In 1910, Valk entered the service of the architect P.J.H. Cuypers as an architectural draftsman. He possibly worked initially at Cuypers' studio in Roermond, but later went to work at the Amsterdam office. During the year 1911, Valk was promoted. From then on he acted for Cuypers' office as building supervisor. In 1912, Valk moved from Blerick to Hoorn. From Jos. Cuypers, he was commissioned to join him in Amsterdam on March 1, 1913, to assume responsibility for the expansion of the Rijksmuseum as building supervisor/draughtsman. While working at the offices of Jos Cuypers and Jan Stuyt, Valk first came into contact with historic preservation, restoration and research as a superintendent. These experiences would later influence his views on old buildings, as well as his own designs. Valk as an independent architect Initially, the focus of Valk's activities was in the field of public housing. Valk had studied the new urban planning insights and the application of new concrete techniques. In the design, which Valk applied to his houses, there are influences midway between the expression of the Amsterdam School and the orthogonal forms reminiscent of De Stijl. After in the second half of the 1920s the guarantees for housing decreased, causing a decline in construction activity in this sector, Valk shifted his activities to the construction of churches. Initially, the influence of his teachers Jos. Cuypers and Jan Stuyt could be recognized in Valk's designs. In the period that followed, Gothic elements appeared in his designs. His passion for material development, material application and his personal views on proportion and spatial design led to characteristic 'Valk designs' in the 1930s. For his expertise, Valk was regularly consulted in the restoration of monuments and carried out several restorations commissioned by the Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg. Were the 1920s possibly his best years commercially; in the 1930s Valk grew to greater maturity and conviction as an architect/artist. During this phase, his great love of craft was most evident in his work. Architectural firm Valk In 1920, Valk settled permanently in 's-Hertogenbosch. Valk was demanding of his draftsmen and employees. Still, most of them were on the payroll for several years. Valk and his office apparently formed a good learning school. Many a HTS Architecture student spent his internship there. The architectural office grew prosperously. From 1930 there was an annex of the office at 93 Anna Paulownastraat in The Hague, manned by the architectural draughtsman G.J.M. Kurvers. Audit records show that on February 23, 1932, this office was permanently closed. In January 1934, the residence, called Fort Antonie, was moved into. In addition to his work as an architect, Valk held numerous positions in professional organizations and committees. In the second half of the 1930s, the Valk office did not fare well. The general economic malaise took its toll here as well. Clients were extremely slow to pay, causing a shortage of cash. After the Second World War The growth of the firm in the 1920s, followed by the financially less successful, albeit more creative, 1930s, were followed by the hopeless years of war. There was hardly any work. Beginning in 1948, however, the Valk office undertook many projects as part of the Reconstruction effort. These were mainly the repair of war damage to churches and the reconstruction of churches and schools. In carrying out projects, Valk henceforth left much of the work to his two sons. Josephine Teelen, Hendrik Valk's wife, died on February 10, 1958. Valk withdrew further and further into himself. For the last fifteen years of his life, H.W. Valk was no longer active as an architect. During the three years before his death, he was sickly and impaired. He died at Fort Antonie on July 29, 1973, at the age of eighty-seven. Public Housing Hendrik Valk would become very involved in housing construction from 1914 onward. He studied building regulations and budgetary methods and thus gained insight into the problems. Valk was open to the application of new materials and building methods that presented themselves. One of the latest developments in this field was building in concrete and concrete block. In his views on the execution and design of public housing, Valk did not distinguish himself remarkably from his contemporaries. The building blocks were usually arranged around a square on which, both on the inside and the outside, dwellings were located. The enclosure of the courtyards received special attention in Valk's designs. Where appropriate, the grounds were closed off with a building block with one high and two lower passages. The enclosed garden village character was emphasized by the greenery, as part of the architectural concept. During the 1930s, clear changes occurred in H.W. Valk's work. His attention would turn more to the construction of churches, schools, villas and country houses. The drastic change in his views on space and material made itself apparent in his designs of the 1930s. Churches The change that Valk went through between 1930 and 1938 did not affect the use of modern building methods in his structures, such as the use of concrete structures and steel, but their outward appearance, through the use of special formats of masonry bricks, roof tiles and the implementation of special pointing. Particularly in the designs of his churches, this change was also fueled by the liturgical movement sometimes referred to as Christocentrism. While the Aloysius Church in Utrecht and the Church of St. John the Baptist in Waalwijk were still inspired by classical Romanesque and Byzantine floor plans, in the churches of Oisterwijk and Knegsel the longitudinal axis of the ground plan is dominant. The Christocentric liturgy demanded an entirely unique floor plan. The architect had to create an architecture of powerful forms as an expression of eternal values and as a symbol of order. To a certain extent, the process of change we see at Valk in the 1930s - in formal language and use of materials - is a signal of rejection and flight at the same time. Rejection of the cold and calculated utilitarianism of modern building and a flight into a new, almost romantic, vision of the communality of liturgical celebration within the Catholic community of faith. Close Valk occupies a special place in the line of "Interwar" architects; he went his own way and did not bother too much with the judgment of his peers. His fervent wish to be counted among the architects of national renown did not come true. The competition for the Amsterdam City Hall kept him busy from 1936 to 1953, but did not lead to recognition. Education: Avondtekenschool, Boxmeer/1900 (about);Ambachtsschool, Nijmegen/1900-1904;School voor Kunstnijverheidswonderwijs, Utrecht/1910;Voortgezet en Hooger Bouwkunst Onderwijs, Amsterdam/1910-1911 (about) Additional positions: Provinciaal Geschied- en Oudkundig Genootschap Limburg/member/1918;School voor Kunst, Techniek en Ambacht, 's-Hertogenbosch/teacher/1920-1921;Maatschappij ter bevordering der Bouwkunst/member/1921-1929;Algemeene Roomsch-Katholieke Kunstenaars Vereeniging (AKKV)/member/1921-1932 (about);Provincial Beauty Commission Bond Nederlandsche Architecten (BNA)//1922; Bernulphus Guild/member/until 1938;Het Brabantsch Edele Ambacht/co-founder and board member/1947-1951;Stichting 's-Hertogenbosch Monumentenzorg-Werkgemeenschap St. Janskring, diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch/board member/1948-1955;St. Pieterskring van Kerkbouwers, diocese of Haarlem and Rotterdam/member/ Archives: Gemeentearchief Waalwijk (GAW)/;Katholiek Informatie en Documentatie Centrum (KIDC), Nijmegen/;Privé Archief G.H.F. Valk (PAGV)/unsorted;Rijksarchief Noord-Brabant (RANB)-collection Valk/199