(Bonas Essay by A. Pasveer; abridged version) F.A. Warners (1888-1952) The oeuvre of Warners shows a diversity of building types and styles, influenced by the prevailing fashions and the wishes of the clients who could often exert great influence with Warners. His buildings are quiet and classical in composition, distinguished in proportion and color. Not too frivolous, but innovative and always of solid construction and durable materials. Warners has mainly gone down in history as a builder of the so-called "storey house" and an advocate of high-rise buildings. However, Amsterdam's building regulations prevented Warners, with the exception of a few office buildings, from really going up in height. That said, Warners still managed to realize some interesting structures in Amsterdam. His buildings are characterized by a high degree of comfort. They are solid, sound buildings, low maintenance and, because of their practical layout, very user-friendly. All of his buildings reflect a statement made by Warners in 1935: 'In short, the task of the architect is to subordinate architecture to the nature of the assignment. He will have to strive to serve architecture by putting aside his personal hobby. He can see to it by purity of proportion, material and color in addition to the rational to achieve the romantic. The first years Philip Anne Warners was born in Amsterdam on November 21, 1888. The family lived on the Overtoom where Warners Sr. had a contracting business. As a contractor, he received a number of large commissions in Amsterdam from around 1890, including from the Van Gendt family of architects. After attending the Hogere Burger School (H.B.S.) in Hilversum, Philip Warners Jr. attended classes at the Industrieschool of the Maatschappij voor den Werkenden Stand in Amsterdam from 1904 to 1908. During and after his education, he worked for a short time as an apprentice at the architectural offices of J.W.F. Hartkamp Jr.(1907), B.J. Ouëndag (1909) and the Van Gendt brothers. Most likely, he also worked during this period on projects by the architects Van Rossem & Vuyck (1908). Going abroad In the fall of 1909, Warners left for England for a year to study at the Architectural Association in London. Here he was introduced to the Arts-and-Crafts movement and the work of the architect C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941), the first "mansion flats" of R.N. Shaw (1831-1912) and the garden city idea as applied to Hampstead Garden Suburb, the construction of which was just taking shape. After this experience, he traveled to Romania in the fall of 1910 at the request of his uncle Jan Koster. Koster, director of the Hollandsche Petroleum Maatschappij "De Orion. In addition to a few industrial buildings, Warners designed his first executed residential houses on the refinery grounds: a director's residence for his uncle and a number of officers' houses. In 1912, Warners visited Italy, Greece and Turkey to study classical architecture. In the same year, he made a tour of several European capitals during which his attention focused on a building type that was hardly known in the Netherlands at the time: the apartment building. Back in the Netherlands Once back in the Netherlands, Warners married Hennie de Lange in 1913, with whom he would have three children: Allert (1914-1981), Henk (1918) and Erik (1923). Warners, writing himself F.A. Warners from 1913 to avoid confusion with his father, established himself as an independent architect at Okeghemstraat 13 in Amsterdam. His first building commissions came from relatives and involved houses in Heerlen, Hilversum and Delden, all built in 1913. The first was a country house for his uncle Jan Koster, who settled back in Heerlen after his Romania adventure. War and reconstruction In the first years of World War II, Warners was still working as much as possible. He built three country houses in Tilburg and Naarden and a villa in Nijmegen. He also wrote the standard work Amsterdams bouwkunst en stadsschoon 1306-1942 with Prof. J.G. Wattjes, which was published in 1943 by his father-in-law Allert de Lange. After spending several months in 1942 as a hostage in the 'Polizeiliches Durchgangslager' in Amersfoort, he hardly worked anymore until the end of the occupation. Since 1945 Warners worked together with his son Allert, also an architect, but in the last years before his death he also had W.J. Klein do a lot of drawing work. Warners died on Feb. 20, 1952, while rebuilding the office for the Hollandsche Bank Unie in Amsterdam. He was buried at Zorgvlied cemetery in Amsterdam. The architectural firm was taken over after his death by his son Allert. Views Warners did not publish much, but several times he wrote in the organ Bouwkundig Weekblad Architectura (B.W.A.). In most cases this was to announce, explain or refute criticism of his office buildings. But he also got involved in discussions in the world of architecture and defended the position of the architect when it was threatened. The power of the building contractors carried the danger of degrading architecture to a dubious level and, as a result, undermining the reputation of the architect. Moreover, Warners reproached his own profession for having watched the architect's field crumble for years without doing anything about it. In Warners' eyes, the builder's buildings did not meet the requirements of a good building. A good building required the necessary qualities of the architect, which the building contractor did not have. First there was the practical aspect. This aspect confronted the architect with questions such as what purpose the building should serve and what function it should perform. Moreover, it had to be clear what funds were available. In practice, in fact, it turned out that it regularly occurred that a building did not entirely fulfill the purpose for which it was intended. Moreover, it was not always user-friendly, a sign that the function had apparently not been sufficiently taken into account. Finally, the contract price was often exceeded to such an extent that the client could run into financial problems. The second aspect was of a technical nature. The architect had to look at the quality and applicability of the materials to be used. These had to be weather resistant and ensure the fire safety of walls, floors and columns. In addition, the "hygienic equipment had to be in accordance with the state of contemporary technology" and the lighting had to be efficient and economical. In addition, attention had to be paid to the general color impression of the building; colors could not harmonize with each other or even hopelessly spoil the architectural proportions. Finally, a calm and harmonious silhouette was important, while the proportions of windows, doors and wall work also had to be balanced among themselves, since the multiplicity in form of windows, doors and bay windows could damage the aesthetic value. Warners' conclusion was therefore: "The master builder, who knows himself subordinate to his task, is only in the true sense of the word the 'master builder'. Only then will he understand the art of processing all practical, technical and aesthetic demands into a useful, economical and characteristic beauty. Only when the architect has conquered his hobby for glass or wood or stone or color will he be able to carry out the task given to him properly. This demand is extremely difficult, as it requires great self-sacrifice, which is little practiced in this day and age, and which requires a clear mind, great professional knowledge and aesthetic talent. After all these warnings, he finally let his colleagues know: 'The architect does not criticize the work of others before having asked himself whether he himself meets these requirements. Education: Industrieschool voor den Werkenden Stand Amsterdam/1904-1908;Architectural Association London/1909-1910 Honors: Diplôme d'Honneur/1925 Archives: NAi/WARS;GAA/1017 BWT;Building and Housing Old South/