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. Anthonie Pieter Smits 1881-1957 Anthonie Pieter Smits was born in Haarlem and was the third son of the art bookbinder Johannes Smits and Francina Reyerse.1 Smits began his education in 1894 at the Studio for Church Art in Haarlem. At the same time, he was a student at the School for Architecture, Decorative Arts and Art Crafts, also in Haarlem. There he took lessons from K.P.C. de Bazel and J.W. Hanrath. In 1897 he left for Amsterdam, where he joined the arts and crafts workshop of the firm Wisselingh & Co. Smits worked there under the direction of workmaster J.P. Strijbos. The firm executed works by Lion Cachet, Dijsselhof and Nieuwenhuis, among others. In the evenings, Smits took the so-called "Vahana course" with Lauweriks and De Bazel. They covered Oriental art and designing on a mathematical basis. In 1900, Smits moved to The Hague. At the office of Joh. Mutters he became chef de bureau and in the evenings he received private lessons from W. van Boven. At Mutters, Smits became acquainted with H. Fels, with whom he started an architectural firm in 1906. Their first country houses, such as Hagheweyde in Warmond and De Spranck and Duynrose in Scheveningen, show typical English characteristics, such as large brick chimneys and sitting areas with a fireplace. Smits joined 't Binnenhuis, an organization where arts and crafts products were made, exhibited and sold, in 1900. His interest in interior design is also evident in his work for the Association for Crafts and Crafts (VANK). Both Smits and Fels were board members, and Smits also served as editor. From 1916 to 1935, both architects were "free employees" of the social-idealist furniture factory Labor Omnia Vincit (LOV) in Oosterbeek. Smits additionally had furniture designs executed by the firm of Gebrs. Reens in Amsterdam. In 1917, Smits designed for himself the country house De Kroft on the Burgemeester den Texlaan in Aerdenhout. In the meantime, he had married a sister of Fels. The association with Fels officially ended in 1919, although the two architects continued to work together occasionally thereafter. From about 1927 until about 1938, A.P. Smits and C. van de Linde formed a firm. Their work consisted partly of completing and executing bequeathed commissions by De Bazel. Between 1929-1933 they built office buildings for the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij in Batavia (Jakarta) and Medan in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). This was followed by many more country houses in the Gooi and the dune region. In 1938, J. Lourijssen joined Smits. When Smits became ill in the 1950s, Lourijssen began to play an increasingly important role. In 1953, he became a partner. In the postwar years, Smits was mainly involved in the reconstruction of Rhenen and Middelburg. 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. Ancillary features: Design for a village church/juror/1913;Design of a cottage/juror/1913;Fifth Gable Competition/juror/1913;Competition for a village church/juror/1913;BNA/Treasurer/1914;Competition for Dining Room Furniture and a Sitting Room Furniture/juror/1928;Competition for a Town Hall in Katwijk/jury chairman/1929;Vereeniging voor Voortgezet- en Hooger Bouwkunst Onderricht/member of the General Board/1931;Voortgezet en Hooger Bouwkunst Onderricht/lecturer on house and garden/1932;Competition residential house for an architect/member of the committee of review/1932;Committee to Review Designs for a New Town Hall Wing Haarlem/member/1936-1937;Committee to Review Design Study 10/member/1938;Beauty Committee Haarlem/member/;Beauty Committee Bloemendaal/member/;Beauty Committee Heemstede/member/;Beauty Committee Zandvoort/member/;Welstandscommissie Noord-Holland/member/;Meubelfabriek Labor Omnia Vincit, Oosterbeek/free contributor/1916-1935;Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheidskunst/board member, editor/1910-1922 (about);Prijsvraag Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheidskunst (V.A.N.K.)/juror/1923;Vereeniging voor voortgezet en hoogger Bouwkunst-onderwijs, custos, lecturer and as a member of various committees/1924 (about);College of advice on the choice of an architect (BNA, Architectura et Amicitia and Bouwkunst en Vriendschap)/member/1935 Honors: Medaille de Bronze/Paris 1925 Archives: NAi/SMIT