J.E.W.G. Kortlang Fzn. (1888-1945) Johannes Evert Wilhelm Gijsbrecht Kortlang was born in Velp on Feb. 14, 1888. His father, Fokko Kortlang, was an architect, but gave up his practice to become the first director of the mental institution 's Heerenloo in Ermelo in 1891, which he remained for 34 years. With the neighboring institutions Groot Emaus, Lozenoord and Veldwijk, this would become one of the largest Christian complexes for psychiatric care in the Netherlands. With his father as builder, Joh. Kortlang Fzn. designed several pavilions on the grounds of 's Heerenloo. But he also drew farms, directors' and teachers' houses, a water tower, a transformer house, bicycle sheds, as well as a church. In addition to his work as an architect, Johan Kortlang is director of the company "Gelderland by the Sea. In 1917 he buys "a beautiful wooded area" near Ermelo. At the time, the area was on the Rijksstraatweg and was already laid out with wide roads. His goal was to build country houses there and then rent them out (furnished). The director decides to switch to building bungalows as soon as possible. He started with three small cottages, Vondellaan 3, Da Costalaan 5 and Da Costalaan 40. In addition to these activities, Kortlang was, among other things, a statesman for the Antirevolutionary Party in the Provincial States of Gelderland for 25 years. For the Society for the sustainable care of minors, he built an educational institution for neglected children in Achterveld, southeast of Amersfoort, in 1914. In the 1920s he rented out country cottages in the summer, as director of Gelderland by the Sea. Probably cottages that he himself had designed and had built by the factory Hollands Schwarzwald from Rijssen. For this he advertised regularly in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. He also sold building plots for country houses in Ermelo and its surroundings. In 1923 he offered, among other things, villa De Berken in Ermelo for sale, and building land in country house park the Dennenkamp. He apparently maintained a good relationship with the editors of the biweekly construction magazine 'Vademecum der Bouwvakken' published in Amsterdam. Many of his building projects were published in this magazine. Commissioned by the Jewish Association Het Centraal Israëlitisch Krankzinnigengesticht in Nederland, he built a men's pavilion on the grounds of the institution Het Apeldoornsche Bosch in 1930. During the construction of the paedagogium Achisomog for the Apeldoornsche Bosch in 1934-1936, Kortlang collaborated with the architect J.S. Baars. Here the later architect L.H.P. Waterman was construction supervisor. If we look at his building style, we see a certain line in his works. A striking feature of the "Johan Kortlang" houses are the round windows. These are often found at the top of the end gables and next to the front door. In addition, Kortlang used brick in his structures without exception. He often differentiated the facade with the masonry dressings of the bricks. A good example of this is the morgue in the cemetery of 's Heerenloo. The trasram is wider all around. Under the windows, the bricks are bricked vertically and protrude alternately, diagonally, a fraction. The gable end is also decorated with protruding bricks. This gives the simple house a rich appearance. In the end walls of residential houses he regularly applied wickerwork bonding. This is clearly visible in the house he designed at Wilhelminalaan 6 in Ermelo. When painting, he often chose dark green with light yellow in combination with white. The shutters were quite often painted in hourglass shape in red and white. Accurately this was observed by the contractor and even to this day this color combination can be found. With few exceptions, the roofs were covered with tiles. Early in his career he used glazed red tiles. Later more often unglazed Dutch red tiles. When a better tile appeared on the market, it was used. Kortlang also sometimes chose other colors for the pans, such as black and green. When he did not use pans, thatch was the other option. Harderwijkerweg 20 in Ermelo is a residential house with a thatched roof. Remarkably, the house has a round bay window, with even a round arched window. It capitalized on the qualities that the thatch possessed, to design with round shapes. As a result, the round roof fits seamlessly with the bay window. An inattentive passerby would not notice the dedication Johan Kortlang bestowed on his buildings. When one studies the oeuvre carefully, one discovers how much passion Johan Kortlang had for architecture. He was a precise man and the construction of his works also had to be carried out with precision. This was not always without problems. The contractor for the church at 's Heerenloo went bankrupt as a result. Materials that did not suit the architect went back and had to be replaced by better ones. A piece of wall that had just been bricked up that did not suit him was pushed over and had to be redone. The technical quality of his works was high and that is probably partly why many of his buildings still exist. Ermelo people in possession of a residence by Johan Kortlang are aware of this and are proud of it. In Ermelo, therefore, Kortlang is certainly not an unknown name. Johannes Kortlang had seven children, four daughters and three sons. He died on March 8, 1945 in Apeldoorn, together with his son Joannes. They were among a group of 117 prisoners, executed in retaliation for the attack on SS commander and police chief H. Rauter at the Woeste Hoeve on March 8, 1945. His youngest son was also killed, six days earlier, with 46 others, by a firing squad in Varsseveld, also in retaliation for an attack on German soldiers. Note: the oeuvre of J.E.W.G. Kortlang Fzn. has not yet been completely inventoried. The available oeuvre list relates primarily to work in Ermelo.