Alphons Boosten (1893-1951) 'Art cannot be other than the mirror of the culture of its time' Introduction The quote from the title comes from the first volume of Roeping 1922-1923. The editors of the new magazine had put the question of the task of the Catholic architect to some master builders such as Jos.Th.J. Cuypers, Jan Stuyt and J.M. Molenaar. Of the younger ones, Jos. Wielders, Alphons Boosten and Jos Ritzen were approached. In Maastricht, the parish church of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, a concrete domed church by Boosten and Ritzen, was under construction. Boosten's reply(1) was, in carried phraseology prayer in an exposé of historical architectural styles, an ardent plea for the technical possibilities of his own time: 'The same right of the ancients, with the progress of craftsmanship and science, to pass from the wooden roof to barrel vault, and then to cross and star vault, and from the narrow window with its monolithic span to the wider one, with over-bracketing, have, in my opinion, also the church builders of our time, to take concrete and iron forms to span spaces and openings. Why should new possibilities that have arisen today not be applied to the church building? [...] He is immortally ridiculous who wants to force art into other orbits than those of our time. Art can only be the mirror of the culture of its time. Any expression which does not do this has not been art, cannot be art and never will be art. The ideology of contemporary building was a theme on which Boosten had already ventured some ten years earlier, in 1914. In the (unpublished) Op wacht te Kijkduin(2) he looked at the Peace Palace by the French architect Cordonnier (1912) in The Hague: 'It rose up before me like a mirror of time' [...] True to the great monuments of old, this palace is also the mirror in which one can read the spirit of the times all too clearly. He expressed disappointment at the non-implementation of Saarinen's more contemporary design and the casting aside of 'our Dutch Architects Berlage and Kromhout, do they not beautifully expose the Dutch idea of calm and grand unity. And do we not see in addition, in Russia, America, England and also especially in our country, a modern art coming into being. Are the modern constructions of these not more reasoned, much less fantastic, but all the more certain and true, are they not more deeply thought through'. Boosten knew his classics, that is obvious. Yet after their publication in Vocation, he did not appear in print. In 1937, at the height of his fame, he wrote in a letter about the building of a church and monastery in Oslo (not carried out):(3) 'I like to expect detailed letters and announcements from others, but I prefer to build myself. Alphons Boosten and his work, publications and exhibitions In early 1951, Boosten died, fifty-seven years old. A complication during a surgical procedure performed at the Academic Hospital in Utrecht had a fatal outcome. Several periodicals, Bouwkundig Weekblad, Katholiek Bouwblad and Het Gildeboek, published articles that expressed nothing but dejection at the unexpected end.(4) There was appreciation and respect for the person Boosten and for the most important buildings in his oeuvre, the churches; some were still under construction when Boosten died. Featured in Bouwkundig Weekblad was architect Jos Ritzen (1896-1961), who had a partnership with Boosten between 1920 and 1924 that produced some memorable church buildings, including St. John's Church in Eygelshoven, the Koepelkerk in Maastricht and the design for Slagelse, Denmark. Boosten was a pure romantic, said Ritzen, who combined a very correct sense of proportion with that for the plasticity of building volumes. He recalled "the hard task of master builders who had to show the way after the war of '14-'18 and then after the last war, shocked again, still found mental strength to continue. Ir. A. Schwencke expressed his dejection in Katholiek Bouwblad, calling him a hard-working and engaging personality. 'Not much was ever published about his work,' Schwencke continued, 'yet it enjoyed great fame, especially in the province in which he mainly worked: Limburg. Boosten's churches have always held a special place among the Dutch churches of the last thirty years, not by the simple fact that there are so many of them, but by the forms he gave them. [...] We now believe that we must do full justice to Boosten's churches and will start looking at them against the background of time and place in which Boosten himself lived. In South Limburg, Schwencke continued, the influences from the Liège Meuse region and especially from the two German states of Rhineland and Westphalia were very noticeable. Rose windows, heavy entryways and concrete vaults evoked an experimental revival of Romanesque times. The author mentioned some of Boosten's churches in relation to this modern German influence but explicitly mentioned his "very own and imaginative handling": movements, space, plastic feeling and even plastic movement. The young generation did not appreciate everything, Boosten could also "stutter," applying impure solutions like stone mesh vaults, bulging window frames and useless buttresses. But Boosten, as evidenced by the churches of Geysteren and Sittard-Sanderbout, very happily enriched his repertoire of forms after World War II. Finally, he mentioned "an enormous merit of Boosten's, the unfailing certainty with which he selected young artists and set them to work in his churches. His initiative and perseverance to realize all this and to find or give the means for it have been of enormous importance for the revival of the visual arts in the churches, in which Limburg made such an important contribution. The contribution was richly illustrated with black and white photographs, presumably by ir. J. Witteveen, Boosten's close associate at the time of his death.(5) The article in The Guild Book "The Artist Boosten" by Jean Adams (1899-1970), a priest and himself a visual artist, was based on personal recollections. Adams taught drawing at the secondary school at Rolduc where he had invited Boosten as an architect during Social Study Weeks in 1929.(6) A frequent contact dated from that time. In 1948 they were both involved in the establishment of the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Adams, however, wanted to say more: 'It was the artist Boosten who traveled to France again and again and again for in-depth and original studies of French cathedrals and Romanesque village churches. Then he was the creative mind playing with rarefied spaces. Then he flew out of the bonds of reality and out of constraints into that space in which art can live. It is remarkable that Adams mentioned France as a source of inspiration for a whole series of church buildings: Bleijerheide, Broekhem, Heksenberg, Beek-Genhout, Dieteren, Weert, Kerensheide (Stein), Maasbracht, Bunnik, Arnhem Zuid and Sweveghem and the special chapel of a monastery in Schiedam. Prof. Dr. J.J.M. Timmers, professor of art history at the Katholieke Universiteit in Nijmegen, also referred in his 'In Memoriam' to Boosten's involvement in the establishment of the Jan van Eyckacademie in Maastricht, the first higher art school, even Rijksacademie, outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Timmers briefly discussed the most important church buildings but refrained from formal or substantive commentary. In addition to the series of churches at Stein, Maasbracht, Maastricht with the Koepelkerk, and the houses of worship at Beek-Genhout, Heksenberg, Bunnik and Dieteren, he mentioned two restorations of monumental churches. These were the tenth-century Wiro and Plechelmus Church in Odiliënberg and the slightly younger St. Christopher Cathedral in Roermond. The Haarlem architect and editor of Katholiek Bouwblad Nic.F. Molenaar also thought of Boosten as a church builder by extensively quoting the now (1953) completed, five-aisled St. Lambert Church in Horst. After the publication of this latest memorial, things were quiet around Boosten's oeuvre for a long time. The Monument Inventory Project, which has been describing and photographing architecture between 1850-1940 since 1988, has pulled numerous "forgotten" architects from under layers of dust. One of the MIP inventorers in North Limburg, Léon van Meijel, has described Boosten's churches in this region with two appreciative publications in his centenary year.(7) Central to this was the church of Horst, which had previously been called a masterpiece. At the same time, also on the occasion of Boosten's centenary, architecture center TOPOS in Maastricht, with Niek Bisscheroux as driving force, organized an exhibition focusing on Boosten's work.(8) In addition to the two church buildings, attention was paid to the residential and commercial buildings and the urban villas. Drawings were on display from the archives then still in the office on Bourgognestraat, as well as photographs. On that occasion, a compilation had been made of Boosten's statements in the Maastricht City Council, where he sat for the Roman Catholic State Party for several years before 1940.(9) The Heerlen architectural historian Nic.H. Tummers honored the importance of Alphons and his son Theo, who by then had already passed away after a debilitating illness, with a lecture: 'The School of Maastricht and Theo Boosten architect'. In the Architectural Guide Maastricht (1997), published shortly thereafter, of which Bisscheroux was one of the authors, many residential houses by Boosten were included. It was the first time since the late 1920s that his houses had received attention. In 1928, the anniversary edition of the Maastricht Coöperatieve Bouwvereeniging Ons Belang featured photographs of the newly built town houses, the double villas Joekes-Scherrer and the property "villa 1 and 2" on the Aldenhofpark-Tongerseplein.(10) One year later (1929), J. Wattjes' survey of Modern Dutch villas featured the 'villa 2 and 3' in Maastricht, the small country house for the writer couple Rutten-Koenen in Geulle and the practice house for the Vaal general practitioner Keunen.(11) The church buildings in particular received attention, albeit with varying degrees of appreciation. Boosten and his associate Ritzen explained two designs in Het Gildeboek in 1921 with reproductions of drawings and photographs of the plaster models.(12) These were the village church in Eygelshoven and the parish church of the Sacred Heart, the Koepelkerk in Maastricht. The explanation was followed by a small article with comments by the reverend pastor F.C. van Beukering on the plans for the Koepelkerk.(13) He wrote that the city church "broke with the traditional Catholic church buildings in its central construction. It was inspired by den mosque building with a large dome with minarets'. Examining the usability of the building, he expressed more disapproval in stern terms: the view of the altar was poor, the building was not oriented, there was too little space for important interior items such as pulpit, choir and confessionals. J.M. van Hardeveld paid attention to Boosten's churches in several publications around 1930. About the church at Eygelshoven (1919-1920): [...] 'the entrances are failed and with too little flesh but the church holds its own in the long line of modern churches of recent years. The proportion of the whole structure is good. The large window sits balanced in the facade. The tower, nice and snug, connects the constituent spaces to good cohesion. The buttresses grip the upper church body well, and the placement of the yet-to-be-executed sculpture shows refined taste. Internally, the development of the choir is particularly successful."(14) Boosten's new churches did not go unnoticed in the following years either. They were primarily local reports, once in the national newspaper De Tijd, where the Catholic writer Jan Engelman mentioned the two post-1935 churches, at Heerlen-Heksenberg and Beek-Genhout.(15) The expressive design of these buildings that made visual art, especially wall and ceiling paintings possible, were cited here, mentioning the performing painter and glazier Charles Eyck. Boosten and two other Limburg architects, F. Peutz and J. Wielders, participated with photographs of work in a 1937 exhibition in The Hague, "Hedendaagsche Limbursche kunst. The choice for the architects in the predominantly painter group is argued in the catalog; they assigned a prominent place to visual art in their church buildings. On display were drawings of the Koepelkerk by Boosten and photographs of the churches at Bleijerheide and Beek-Genhout and of the convent chapel at Schiedam.(16) Surveys of Dutch architecture had mentioned work by Boosten but he was missing from Fanelli's book(17). Four churches by Boosten were shown in 1940 in Rotterdam at Museum Boymans during Nederland bouwt in baksteen 1800-1940, a photographic exhibition that featured the church buildings of Bleijerheide, Heerlen-Heksenberg and surprisingly the just-completed churches at Dieteren and Weert.(18) The two overviews in 1953 to a century of Dutch episcopal hierarchy were limited as far as Boosten was concerned. In both only the Koepelkerk at Maastricht and the churches at Heerlen-Heksenberg and at Beek-Genhout.(19) His name fell in passing in the overview of J. Buch, A Century of Dutch Architecture 1880-1990. Buch called the Koepelkerk: "a remarkable domed church in non-historic style with a skeleton in cast concrete and a central plan. Large and well designed in sober geometric Art Deco style, well ahead of its time."(20) Finally, some of his most important church buildings were extensively commented on in 2002 in True beauty or mere splendor, an account of the work of the Episcopal Building Commission in Roermond. Pouls calls Boosten, whose designs were under fire in the commission, "the most important and perhaps the best Limburg church builder of the twentieth century. He built one and twenty churches, eighteen of which were in Limburg. They are remotely recognizable as Boosten churches, the result of the architect's passionate artistry.'(21) Biographical sketch Alphons Jean Nicolas Boosten was born in Maastricht in 1893, the second child of Joannes Hubertus Boosten (1866-1932), book printer, and Maria Catharina Steven (1866-1936).(22) Well before the turn of the century, Boosten sr. was self-employed as a printer and bookbinder, based Achter het Vleeschhuis in the old city center. In 1908 his business is mentioned on Hertogsingel and since 1913 again in the inner city on St-Amorsplein. The family then lived at 4b Hondstraat.(23) Even before the turn of the century, Hubert Boosten and the publisher Louis Stols had begun working together, with a branch on Amorsplein and later on Onze Lieve Vrouwenplein. Their publications were a household name in the printing world for some time.(24) After elementary school, Alphons Boosten went through several classes of the HBS and then apprenticed with a furniture maker. In the evenings and on Saturdays he took lessons at the Stadstekeninstituut, where architectural drawing was taught by the Maastricht architect Willem L. Sprenger (1875-1947).(25) There the first contacts were made with visual artists such as Henri Jonas, Han Jelinger and Jos Postmes.(26) They took drawing and painting lessons with Mr. Robert Graafland. With the aforementioned and with other artists, Boosten maintained particularly friendly contacts throughout his life. Graafland and Boosten faced each other a quarter of a century later in the Maastricht City Council with clashing ideas about housing aesthetics. Lessons in architectural and technical drawing at the Stadsteekeninstituut would result in a teaching qualification. In 1912, nineteen years old, Boosten had to do his military service. The outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) meant that all leave was revoked and conscripts were obliged to stay on, even though their time was almost up. That happened to Boosten, who was in the Oranje Barracks in The Hague and had to stay there. This did enable him to attend the classes of ir. Jan Gerko Wiebenga (1886-1974)(27) at the Hague Academy of Fine Arts, Architecture and Applied Arts. Wiebenga taught day and evening courses in calculating building structures and reinforced concrete. He had built two large factory halls with sensational concrete structures in Maastricht in 1912, one on the Ceramique site and a coke shed for the municipal Gas Works on Cabergerweg.(28) These buildings must have been the subject of discussion during Willem Sprenger's architecture classes already during Boosten's Maastricht years at the Stadsteekeninstituut. The conscript soldier was allowed to attend classes at the Hague Academy and complete the training to obtain the drawing certificate. Later he was assigned to border patrol in eastern South Limburg. Here he met his future wife Kathy Gibbels, who was born in nearby Herzogenrath (Dld.), at the Schlösser family's home on Nieuwstraat in Kerkrade. In 1920, Boosten designed a storefront on that Nieuwstraat for Schlösser. A number of visual artists from Maastricht, including Henri Jonas and Han Jelinger, had migrated to Amsterdam around 1915 to the Rijksacademie for lessons in monumental painting by the famous Anton Derkinderen. Boosten also wanted to study in Amsterdam; he wrote several letters to his superiors requesting that he be allowed to take classes at the Voorgezette Hogere Bouwkunde course there.(29) However, the request was not granted until 1918, when the end of the war was in sight. Further education and training The Voortgezette Hogere Bouwkunde course had been founded in 1908 by architect Willem Kromhout (1864-1940) in collaboration with the Genootschap Architectura et Amicitia.(30) The classes were housed at the Amsterdam State Academy. Important teachers besides Kromhout were the architects Jan Stuyt (1868-1934), Jan Gratama (1877-1872) and ir. Jos.Th.J. Cuypers (1864-1947). Also associated with the course were Utrecht M.T.S. teacher W.J.M. van de Wijnpersse and art historian Prof. W. van der Pluym. Boosten followed the course intensively for a little over six months, after which his class visits became less frequent. He did not take part in the transitional exam. The accurate lesson reports he made and carefully preserved are in the archives thanks to a loan from Nic.H. Tummers. Cuypers' lessons included materials science, Stuyt's subject was dome construction, Gratama gave introduction to architecture. Boosten noted, "main purpose of Gratama's speeches is not to give forms, but how to arrive at good forms. The first design arises in the mind. The paper then reflects, what one sees in the mind. Factors that co-determine the design: building cost, location, residents' requirements and ARCHITECTONIC BEAUTY'. Boosten worked in Amsterdam at the office of Jos.Th.J. Cuypers(31); classes at the VHB were mainly in the evenings. He did not finish the school year and even left Amsterdam to settle in Helmond for a short time.(32) Possibly this had to do with the conversion for the Maastricht-born general practitioner Keuller. Boosten made an eighteenth-century city building on the Markt suitable for the practice of medicine, among other things. In the summer of 1919, Boosten married and with his wife he settled again in The Hague.(33) The residence, which he had become acquainted with during his military service, was more attractive to an aspiring architect than the capital. Jan Stuyt lived there and the nestor of Dutch architecture, Hendrik Petrus Berlage. Boosten did desk and drawing work with one of these two, perhaps both, presumably Berlage. He began compiling a portfolio. Contacts with clients are obvious but nothing is known about this. For Berlage (1856-1934), 1919 was the year of the first presentation of the new Gemeentemuseum. Series of design drawings and a plaster model had been prepared at the office.(34) Regular quotations from the first designs for the Hague Gemeentemuseum can be seen, among other things, in the Koepelkerk in Maastricht, the second church by Boosten and Ritzen and in the typical irregular U-shape of the convent with school on Scharnerweg. Jan Stuyt, teacher at the Amsterdam VHB course and living in The Hague since 1917, in all likelihood pointed Boosten's way back south. Stuyt had important contacts in South Limburg. Together with Jos.Th. Cuypers, he acted as a consultant for the housing association 'Ons Limburg' created by the State Mines. Boosten's second period in The Hague was therefore of short duration and in early 1920 he returned to Maastricht. The young couple temporarily moved in with Alphons' parents, but soon moved to Alexander Battalaan in Wijck-Maastricht. Two children were born, Theo (1920-1997) and Marie-José, called Josette (born 1922). The move to the premises on Bourgognestraat dates from 1930. The return to Maastricht marks the start of Boosten's career as an independent architect. Incidentally, there are many indications in the Boosten archive of further education and of confirming and/or reacquiring knowledge and sources of inspiration. A selection from the relevant bound journal volumes and books: Opgang (1921-24, 1932-'33), Das Schöne Heim, Bouwbedrijf (1927-'32), The Studio (1927-'29), Van bouwen en sieren (1930-'33), Buiten (1933) and Het RK Bouwblad (1937-'40). That he did not consider himself "accomplished" is evident from two notebooks containing notes from lectures in 1934 in Delft by Prof. M. Granpré Molière. The archives also contain several meters of books, some of which are worth mentioning in this connection: G. Feenstra, Garden Cities and Public Housing in the Netherlands and Abroad (Amsterdam 1920), A. Eliasberg, Russian Baukunst (Munich 1922), Edw.W. Gregory, The Art & Craft of Home-making (London 1925), J.G. Wattjes, Modern Churches in Europe and America (Amsterdam 1931) and N. Jungblut, Lehr- und Musterbuch der Schifferdachungen (Frankfurt 1935). Boosten and Ritzen Boosten entered into a partnership with Heerlen architect Jos Ritzen (1896-1954). Ritzen worked at the Oranje-Nassaumijn in Heerlen as an architectural draftsman and had attended the Technische Hogeschool in Aachen.(35) Their stationery listed addresses in Heerlen on Geerstraat and in Maastricht on Alexander Battalaan. On the typed works list from 1941, Boosten wrote, 'together with Architect Ritzen, design by me' at the three church buildings that came into being during the period of cooperation. To what extent there was an actual division of labor remains a question, even Ritzen's later biographer De Blauwe does not comment on this in exact terms. Looking at Rizen's later work in De Blauwe's biography, however, it is plausible that in the duo Boosten was on the design side. As early as 1919, Boosten and Ritzen had been approached for the new church for the village of Eygelshoven, where the mine Laura & Society had its headquarters. Jos.Th. Cuypers (1861-1947) and Jan Stuyt (1868-1934), who worked in Heerlen for the housing association Ons Limburg, were presumably the trait-d'union. The private mining company Laura & Association wanted to support a newly built parish church with a significant financial contribution. Boosten drew on his portfolio for the design. The "medium-sized village church" was executed with a few minor changes and with the variant of the pointed tower in Eygelshoven. A second major commission for Boosten and Ritzen was the parish church for the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, opposite the railroad in Maastricht on the edge of the hamlet of Wijckerveld. Jos.Th. Cuypers had drawn an expansion plan behind the railroad line for the municipality of Maastricht in 1919. For the church, in addition to design drawings, a plaster model was made with two, detached narrow and straight towers. Executed was the octagonal central building with a fairly flat dome shell and some block-like additions, for the altar, entrance and a baptistery. The towers never materialized. In a short time, Boosten and Ritzen acquired a respectable series of commissions.(36) Thus, by their hand (among others) in addition to the two churches mentioned above, there are the enlargement of the old church in Margraten, a school building at the Lage Barakken in Maastricht, a design for an exhibition building for the Limburgse Kunstkring, the small country house for the writers Felix Rutten and Marie Koenen in Geulle, mansions on the Kanaalstraat and on the Parkweg in Maastricht, and the convent with school on the Scharnerweg. The building of the Koepelkerk led Mr. Budé, presumably one of the subcontractors, to erect twelve dwellings across the street, and ornamental stone dealer Rosier had a house with workshop built a stone's throw away on Lyonnetstraat in Wijck. Then there was the design for a convent and church at Slagelse (Denmark) for the Montfortan fathers. Ritzen referred to it in his "In Memoriam" after Boosten's death, and colored presentation drawings were found in the archives. In Maastricht, however, Boosten also received several designs through his former teacher Willem Sprenger, such as the Farmhouse and the Outside on the Pietersberg for the Brothers of Maastricht. For these Brothers, who managed boarding schools, monasteries and schools not only in Maastricht but also throughout the country, Boosten worked throughout his life. Virtually all assignments for school buildings were from religious clients and were accompanied by convents, chapels and boarding houses, and/or association rooms. Ritzen left for Antwerp in 1924; he emphasizes that the separation was not based on a conflict. (37) The many drawings and correspondence in the archive in which both their names appear are a source of information about this hitherto obscure Jos Ritzen. Architect in Maastricht In the early 1920s, Boosten was also introduced by Sprenger as architectural consultant to the already mentioned Maastricht 'Coöperatieve Bouwvereeniging Ons Belang'. This was founded in 1903 by a group of wealthy Maastricht citizens who were looking for a safe and socially responsible investment. The association made land purchases on a modest scale and took initiatives to buy and build houses for their members. These members first saved a purchase price and then took out a mortgage on a house of their own to be built. The advice of the building committee, of which Willem Sprenger was also a member, and in addition to Boosten, a second young Maastricht architect, Henri Baeten, concerned land purchases and designs for new houses. The membership, economically the middle class of civil servants, teachers and small businessmen, can be seen in the many design drawings for small and medium-sized residential and commercial houses. Notable after 1926 were the semi-detached and three-under-one-roof villas in the new Maastricht villa park. Among the storefronts, the façade design stands out where display window and living are seamlessly unified. The villas are characterized by an ingenious alternation of façade and roof shapes, detailing of entrances and windows. Through Ons Belang, it was a small step to the manufacturers. Emile van Oppen, son of a small inner-city iron foundryman and himself already in 1920 with his own iron and steel production, approached Boosten for the expansion of his factory. In 1925, with the engineers of the construction company Delfos of Liège, Boosten built a very large, especially long factory hall for the manufacture of long, steel gas pipes. J. Lousberg of Laundry De Lelie saved with Ons Belang before he partnered with Boosten and Ritzen in 1923 to renovate and enlarge the laundry. He simultaneously had a new residence built with an office adjacent to the laundry. Before 1930, Boosten built several cinema halls with concrete structures, not very conspicuous as they were always located behind existing residential houses or stores. Furniture manufacturer Henri Wagemans had Boosten build a residential house on Tongerseplein to begin with, and shortly thereafter an expansion of his factory. In 1940, together with J. Baanders of Amsterdam, Boosten built a new building on the factory site at Hoge Fronten for the Bates bag factory, and after World War II he built for Mosa (ceramics) and Stella (glass). At the end of the 1920s (1926-1927), Boosten was involved in designs for Ons Limburg in Heerlen, a housing association created by the State Mines and private mining entrepreneurs.(38) The 'List of designed and executed works' (1941) records a number of more than 3,000 houses for Ons Limburg. Many smaller housing companies had been helped by Ons Limburg, which existed from 1911, with the subsidy applications and land purchases, as did the Maastricht building societies Sint-Servatius and Sint-Mattias.(39) For Servatius, Boosten drew the new buildings for the Witte Vrouwenveld district in 1931, the execution dates from a little later. The street plan here was also by his hand. Striking are the small streets with series of six or eight with different façade types and end houses: a realization of the garden village idea. Incidentally, this was not the first garden village in Maastricht; Willem Sprenger had built a similar district at the other end of the old city center in 1920, but with almost contiguous, long street walls and without the variety that was characteristic of Boosten's district. In any case, Maastricht was a solid foundation. In addition to the housing projects mentioned, there were the doctors' villas for physicians whose cradles were in the city on the Meuse and Jeker rivers. The monastic orders for which Boosten worked, the Brothers of Maastricht, the Ursuline Sisters and the Sisters Under the Arches, had their headquarters or at least a significant station in Maastricht.(40) Boosten meant something for Maastricht, a city whose economic development in the first half of the last century was slight, in many areas. Contacts with visual artists resulted in spectacular designs for his church buildings: monumental murals, sculpture, glazing and precious metalwork. Painter and glazier Henri Jonas, sculptor Charles Vos and painter Charles Eyck worked between 1925 and 1940, among others, for the Koepelkerk and the church buildings of Bleijerheide, Heerlen-Heksenberg, Beek-Genhout and Weert. Characteristic of his professional outlook was Boosten's membership in the Limburgse Kunstkring in Maastricht, an association of visual artists, writers and poets.(41) Ritzen and he drew a design for an exhibition building in 1923. The drawings, views and floor plans, suggest that there were plans for an implementation. The Kunstkring met in Hotel Suisse on the Vrijthof where Jean Boosten, a brother of Alphons' father, filled the role of cashier for some years, until he moved to a new residence on Tongerseplein (next to 'villa 1 and 2'). In the late 1920s, Alphons Boosten served on the Provincial Beauty Commission, as a delegate of the Limburg Art Circle.(42) Boosten was also a member of AKKV, the General Catholic Artists Association, and of the Union of Dutch Architects, the BNA. He was one of the teachers of the College of Arts and Crafts and Architecture founded in Maastricht in 1926 and served on its Supervisory Board.(43) From 1931, Boosten served on the City Council for the Roman Catholic State Party. Here he advocated local businesses and employment, among other things. In 1933 he brought a large exhibition of building materials to Maastricht for which he designed not only the arrangement of the stands but also the printed matter. After the Second World War, he was part of the founding group of the Jan van Eyck Academy, an event that was recalled in the memorials to his sudden death by the Jean Adams and Prof. Timmers involved. Both Boosten's personality and his inspiring relationships with many visual artists and his special church buildings, in which visual art had an important part, contributed to the foundation of the new art school. The masterpieces, the church buildings The range and numbers are and remain impressive, twenty-five designs for church buildings of which just over twenty were executed. To these can be added a dozen or so indoor monastery churches and chapels. Only two and an enlargement were realized in his hometown of Maastricht, but most of the others were realized in the province of Limburg. Bunnik (1940) is the northernmost location beyond that. The design varies according to function from a single village church, such as the first church at Eygelshoven with parabolic vaulting trusses, to the St. Lambert Church at Horst, a five-aisled urban cathedral based on modern Paris' example, with slender concrete piers and ornate vaulted planes. Brick is often the main external building material but in early churches such as the Maastricht Koepelkerk, the Sint Jan at Eygelshoven and in the enlargement of the sixteenth-century Sint Margarita at Margraten, concrete is clad in natural stone. The 1929 Sint Antonius at Bleijerheide was built in brick, but at the Sint-Jozefkerk at Broekhem the concrete structure is clad with marlstone. The houses of worship built hereafter are in brick, and it is the flat method of masonry that significantly supports the expressive and often apparently picturesque grouping of the parts. Between 1932 and 1936, the Gerardus Majella at Heerlen-Heksenberg and the Hubertus at Beek-Genhout were built, shortly before and after 1940 the Sint Stefanus at Dieteren, the Sint Willibrordus at Geysteren, the Sint Jozef at Weert, the H. Barbarakerk at Bunnik, the Sacramentskerk at Arnhem-zuid and the Jozefkerk at Stein. After World War II, the St. Amandus in Sweveghem (B.), the extension in Caberg (Maastricht), the church on the Mariaberg in Maastricht and the St. Gemma in Sittard were built. In northern Limburg, the Sint-Odakerk in Melderslo, the Gertrudis in Maasbracht, the Johannes de Doper in Baexem, the Onze Lieve Vrouw in Grubbenvorst and the Lambertus in Horst were built. The Koepelkerk in Maastricht A church at the beginning of the series that stands out in more ways than one is the 1920 parish church of Fathers of the Sacred Heart, the Koepelkerk in Maastricht, in collaboration with Ritzen. On the exterior, the megalomaniac octagonal block is clad in the hard Nivelstein sandstone and travertine slabs. The plinth zones of the additions are finished with dark brick. With this, the faint curve and green of the copper dome covering the concrete shell contrast. In the interior, the massive concrete buttresses predominate. Buildings with a dome belong to the architectural stylistic idiom of the first decades of the twentieth century. At the VHB course, J. Stuyt devoted a series of lessons to domes, with much attention to aesthetics and the religious-historical aspect. Berlage applied a dome in the first design for The Hague's Gemeentemuseum, a design that Boosten had to deal with in his year in The Hague. For Boosten and Ritzen, then, building a dome must have had a certain fascination. Their plan was not the first for a new church on that site. A certain Ramakers from Heer had made a drawing in 1912 for a neo-Gothic building with a single sturdy tower on the side. An emergency church had been set up in three workers' houses that had been pulled together. The design for the central building had everything to do with Father H. Luijten becoming parish pastor in 1919. A dome could encompass the entire building and thus be a symbol of ecclesiastical and parochial unity.(44) The two experienced and influential Catholic architects Jos.Th. Cuypers and J. Stuyt both already had applications to their names, Cuypers in Brabant with St. James' Church (1907) in Den Bosch and St. Laurentius' Church (1917) in Dongen. Stuyt had built the ornate, white-plastered Cenacle church for the H. Landstichting in Groesbeek (1913) and also the Sint Catharina (1916) in Den Bosch.(45) A second important motive for a building without a dominant longitudinal axis and a single form was a very practical one, the small plot of land available. There was hardly room for a square; the church had to fit against the existing row of houses on Scharnerweg. Boosten and Ritzen created very special solutions for this. The extension with the side entrance on the left has an attached intermediate section, the residence of the fathers that connects in height to the neighboring building. The extensions for the entrances and the altar around the octagon were connected in the original plan with low walls, in two places here are attachments for the towers. In the interior, the tapering lines of the heavy concrete wall sections, an architectural motif that we see more often in the first quarter of the twentieth century, notably again with Berlage in his first design for The Hague's Gemeentemuseum, is striking. In the church, the walls consist, as it were, of the gigantic tapered concrete pillars set at 45-degree angles. The partitions are punctuated by a trio of windows, one elongated in the middle and two smaller ones with tapered rods. A second window section is located at the very top of the building, receding deep inside into the thick concrete wall, emphasizing a rejuvenation from the outside below the dome's attachment with vertical bearings. The highest point of the dome measured inside is 29 meters, the centerline is 24 meters. The construction campaign that began with the laying of the foundation stone in 1921 lasted in stages until the end of the decade. The contractor was the N.V. Internationale Gewapend Betonmaatschappij of Breda, not unknown in Maastricht. Some smaller Maastricht companies provided hand and hand services, such as the Electric Timmerfabriek of J. Mesters from Wijck.(46) The building was commissioned without the towers; during the 1952-'53 renovation, the tower additions were removed. A new presbytery was then established on the right side; the residence for the fathers on the left side was rented. The revolutionary design of the church building always did very well with the parishioners, despite the criticism from the clerical side, already written about above. The building was far ahead of its time, as J. Buch also emphasized, and is still a "modern" and indispensable landmark when entering Maastricht. The churches at Heerlen-Heksenberg and Beek-Genhout It is the houses of worship at Heerlen-Heksenberg and Beek-Genhout that are at the beginning of the series with the bold, 'experimental' and expressive personal language of form, combined with striking applications of visual art. The designs and initial exploratory talks for the two new parish churches date from around 1930. Plaster models of both churches were shown at Rolduc during study weeks,(47) unfortunately none of these objects have been recovered. The building at Heerlen owes much to building pastor Giel Honée.(48) Construction began in 1932, after there was some criticism of the tower and chancel in the Episcopal Building Commission in Roermond.(49) Criticism later extended to the location of the rose window in the front. This church, a pseudo-Basilica with a flat, wooden ceiling, was built on uneven ground disturbed by mine workings. The State Mines at Heerlen not only demanded proper foundations but also contributed to the cost. Each part, the tower, nave and choir, was founded separately. Of particular note is the front on the street side, an entrance party with round arch in flat wall work and a transverse gable roof flanked on the left by a robust tower and on the right by a kind of tall widening of the volume. This led to the intriguing meeting of cornices and sunken window openings. Nor does the building have a square as in Maastricht; the church simply lies along the street. The tower subtly tapers so that it does not become robustly plump. The interior has brick, high arcades to side aisles and transepts, but is dominated by the large, semicircular painted back wall of the choir. The painting, depicting the Last Judgment, designed and executed by Charles Eyck, is kept in tones of blue and gray. On the exterior, the choir can be seen as a cylindrical tower at the same height as the nave. In the transepts that follow the walls of the side aisles are rose windows with a square grid, in the front there is one, with an interlaced trefoil. Besides the work of Eyck, the precious metalwork of Brom of Utrecht should be mentioned with a very beautiful bronze pulpit with opaline glass by J. Nicolas. The church in the hamlet of Genhout, municipality of Beek, was completed a little later, in 1937. The realization was in the hands of the dynamic building pastor Frans Welters.(50) In Genhout, mainly a farming village, an elementary school had been established in 1932, after which a parish church of its own was among the wishes. The community quickly raised the necessary funds for an emergency building. Alphons Boosten presented his final design for the new parish church in 1936. The foundation stone was laid that same year and the church was dedicated in December 1937. The building is a typical example of the plastic "Boosten style" with flat brick walls, asymmetry and several volumes and roof shapes. In front is a small square, and walking around it one can fully enjoy the characteristic design. On the little square, St. Hubert's feast day (November 3) at the beginning of the hunting season, the mob could be blessed, hence the low window of the baptistery, the St. Hubert's window. The church building is relatively small, seating just over 275. The interior space is singular and flows into a low transept that connects to the choir on the right side and provides space for the sacristy on the other. The choir has a corridor accessed by high arcades. On the exterior, the semicircular apse forms a substantial element against the nave. The front forms a striking composition of a narrow cylindrical bell tower and a high protruding westwork with recumbent gable roof, which continues in front of the tower with a lower building section, also with gable roof, in which is located the baptistery with the curiously low window. The vault in the nave is not masonry but constructed of stuccoed stone mesh, in compartments with diagonals. The resulting pointed surfaces are painted with figures, the church patron Hubertus and evangelists and episodes from Christ's life, framed by floating angels and tendrils, the work of Charles Eyck.(51) The apse wall is also painted, with a representation of the resurrected Christ. The round window in the facade was glazed by Joep Nicolas. Henri Jonas crafted the narrow nave windows, only half of which are worked on because of light transmission. The high westwork of this church and that at Heerlen-Heksenberg (and of the later church at Grubbenvorst from 1947) gave rise to statements about historicizing influences from Germany. However, it seems that the remarkable front construction, the "westwork" of the Onze Lieve Kerk in Maastricht (in several overviews also counted as part of a German group), was the closest example to home. Examples from France and Italy also played a role, as evidenced by the churches at Weert and Horst. The churches of Weert and Horst Two in Alphons Boosten's series of largest parish churches are the St. Jozef in Weert and the St. Lambert in Horst, from 1938 and 1948-'53, respectively. The Boosten archives contain design and working drawings of both churches.From Horst, there is also extensive correspondence with the building pastor Dean Debije. Together with the churches of Bunnik, Brunssum and the one on the Mariaberg in Maastricht, they form the series of large church buildings. The building in Horst was also the subject of architectural-historical studies, such as the essays by Van Meijel in the centenary year of the architect's birth. The church of Weert arose on the edge of the new postwar residential area of Keent for personnel and professional soldiers of the garrison at Weert.(52) The active pastor M. Boonen approached architect Boosten for the new "garrison church. The pastor had been chaplain in Wijck-Maastricht for a long time; Boosten had also made several modifications for this church. The very large church building at Keent was calculated to accommodate 1,000 adults and 500 children. The nave is therefore large and wide and is divided into three naves by square pillars and arches, to which two lower galleries connect. There is a substantial transept with rose windows, the presbytery is relatively small with a semicircular apse. The lower gallery is clearly distinguished from the nave on the outside not only by its low height but also by its lancet windows, while the nave's light nave has round windows. Two cylindrical towers with very narrow, high spires are striking elements. The square bell tower stands to the left of the front entrance. The tower richness has everything to do with its orientation toward the residential area of Keent. Therefore, the most characteristic side of the church building in this case is the rear. The front facade exhibits a faint roof slope, a tapering to the roof and tapered spurs, the buttresses incorporated into the whole. A series of five narrow lancet windows adorn the facade. Next to the first floor entrance there are two blind arches, the entrance is decorated with three recessed arches with a sculptural motif. Here sculptor Charles Vos created in 129 parts, ceramic reliefs: numerous saints, biblical scenes and symbols. Architect Boosten and sculptor Vos found an example in the early medieval church at Aulnay in France's Dordogne region. Here, above two entrances, the stepped round arches above the entrance feature relief representations of Old Testament figures, foolish and wise virgins and apocalyptic animal creatures in the much the same way. The choice of material is different, in Weert ceramic, in Aulnay light bluestone. Possibly the church at Aulnay was an example in more than one respect, also the very wide protruding transept of the French building we find in Weert. The church at Horst, dubbed Boosten's last masterpiece, came about after several design campaigns. The old neo-Gothic Lambertus Church with medieval remains, located in the center of the northern Limburg town, was so affected at the end of World War II that it was wiser not to decide to rebuild it. Dean Debeij, after a tour of several contemporary new churches, pronounced a choice for Alphons Boosten as architect.(53) At the end of 1948, he submitted several designs, variants of a large basilical cross church, where a low choir tower joins a nave with a gabled roof. The variants expressed themselves in the choir tower: a series of small apsides as in the church of Stein, an onion-shaped spire or an oval plan. There was again criticism on several points by the Episcopal Building Commission. The fourth and final design had a whole new motif not previously seen in Boosten's church idiom, an atrium. The forecourt, enclosed by three galleries, is followed by a wide hall nave, equipped on either side with low processional aisles. The transept has room for singers next to the presbytery and children on the other side. In this plan, the bell tower has a position at the rear, there is a second entrance and a sacristy. The Episcopal Building Commission again had objections, but Dean Debije, who was very much inspired by the latter plan, persisted. Finally, he managed to get construction started, unfortunately a few months after Boosten's death. The atrium or forecourt goes back to early Christian Roman examples. The solution chosen for the interior, the high and wide nave space with its slender concrete pillars and small vaulted planes, can be traced back no other than to the concrete Parisian church in the Le Raincy district (Auguste Perret 1922-1923). There are several photo shots of this church in the archives. The large collection of medieval statues that is part of the Horster church treasure is set against square pillars in the lower galleries. On the exterior, the wall of the atrium extends along the sides; it blends seamlessly into the walls of the lower galleries, as in Weert. The narrow gabled roof of the nave, flanked by two flat roofs, does all justice to the roof variations of the apse, choir tower and bell tower. The exterior, with its variety, plasticity and different building volumes, forms a monumental variant in Boosten's idiom. Monasteries and schools In addition to churches, monasteries and schools in the Catholic South formed major commissions from religious quarters. The combination of convent and school is common, sometimes with a boarding school. For the religious who worked in primary education, the Education Act of 1920(54) meant not only an expansion of financial resources but above all a legal basis. Thus, in the first two years of their partnership, Boosten and Ritzen were able to make a name for themselves with a small residential facility for religious and a girls' school on Scharnerweg and two boys' schools for the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, one on the Low Barracks and one on the Capuchin corridor. In the following years, Boosten brought about several extensions to existing buildings and built several entirely new convents, combined with classrooms or a hospital. The 1929 design for the Suringar School Association in Maastricht on Lyonnetstraat in Wijck was unusual in more ways than one. It involved a Protestant school association, which wanted an association classroom in addition to a kindergarten. The expressive attic roof under which the association met still attracts interested onlookers today. After 1930, Boosten built an MULO school for Suringar, an extension to the LO school built around the corner in 1922 by H. de Ronde. The new building stands out with subtle differences. The modest entrance is in the pointed front facade on the left side, the walls are kept flat, with window frames of metal. Among convent buildings, a traditional type remained in vogue, single and rectangular or with a kind of E-shaped layout. The functions of living and teaching or caring for the sick are separated by a chapel in the middle. This is in all cases an undivided, high space and almost always situated at the rear. Boosten brought subtle architectural differences to the sections by emphasizing or not emphasizing heights, the roofs, window solutions, entrance and corner areas. The towers of the chapels are generally modest, but provide an unmistakable architectural accent. Notable are the applications from the modern-living idiom as porches and bay windows. [façade Franciskanessenklo. Wijck, drawing] Viewed across the board, the detached school buildings show a wide range of designs. Apart from the first designs with Ritzen, they are predominantly flat-roofed buildings with stucco or brick walls and small or large gabled roofs with red tiles. Concrete trusses allow a large window area on the exterior and interior walls. Almost always these are successive series of classrooms along a corridor, or a central hall behind the entrance to which the corridor opens with, possibly on either side, classrooms. A few designs deviate from this: the school in Rekem (Belgium) from 1927-1929, the crèche Juliana for the municipality of Maastricht from 1930 and in the last drawings, from 1950, he designed a school building near the church in Stein. These were always two volumes at a 90-degree angle enclosing a small playground or courtyard. We find unusual materializations of the facades in Maastricht. The boarding house for the sisters under the arches, attached to their existing neo-Gothic convent, has flat walls in a light stone color. The enlargement of the secondary school and the extension for the teacher training college for the Ursuline Sisters on the Grote Gracht and the Capucijnenstraat respectively bear the same characteristic: a flat wall in light stone color, combined with plastic window frames in dark wood. Boosten's teacher Jos.Th. Cuypers is quoted here, not only his materials classes on the VHB course, but also his 1912 dwellings on Herbenusstraat for housing association Sint-Mattias. The convent and hospital at Valkenswaard In Valkenswaard, in the spring of 1930, "a modern and neat building" was put into use, a hospital and convent of the St. Carolus Foundation, which was under the management of the Maastricht Sisters Under the Arches, officially called the Sisters of Charity of Carolus Borromeus.(55) In the building, the elderly and sick were nursed, there was an outpatient clinic and a chapel. Upstairs under high gabled roofs were the cells of the sisters who worked in nursing. The building shows a single, elongated design, at the rear the chapel protrudes slightly. In the front facade facing the street, the central entrance is marked by an ornate turret. The two lateral parts differ in detailing, on the first floor on the right were the men's and women's halls and the children's ward with a large veranda, all under a flat roof. Connected to a corridor behind this were consulting and examination rooms for the doctors and nurses. To the left of the entrance were also examination and sick rooms. Centrally behind the entrance were the dining rooms and kitchens, as well as a staircase. The chapel was visible through the spire of the cylindrical tower at the front, but the built-in house of worship was at the rear. The building is rich in contributions by visual artists. In the hall a mural by Leo Gense, on the facade a sculpture in cast concrete depicting Carolus Borromeus by Charles Vos and in the chapel several colorful stained glass windows by Henri Jonas. Not only the artists, but also the executors and materials were of Limburg origin. The Maastricht contractor J. Mesters had carried out the work, assisted by no other than Limburg companies. For example, the plumbing came from Felix in Maastricht, and the lumber from Wijsbek and Soons in Heerlen. Even the bricks had been fired in Maastricht. According to a newspaper report, the work was awarded to them not only because they were the lowest bidder, but also "offered the best guarantees for solid work," as the Brabant coverage reported without further comment. The building still exists but has long since ceased to be a hospital. It is currently owned by the Brabant Monuments Foundation, which loaned it to the Brabant Falconry and Cigar Making Museum and several other cultural institutions. The convent with elderly care in Gulpen The Sint-Jozefgesticht in Gulpen, design year 1931, was a convent with elderly care by and for the Sisters of Charity of Tilburg.(56) Roughly speaking, it had a reclining E-shape as its floor plan. The large beam of the letter forms the front from which the chapel protrudes. In the lower zone - the hilly terrain made an additional floor possible - there are three arched window openings, bordered by slabs of marl, which emphasize the religious aspect. Alongside this, the pointed cylinder of the turret forms a striking whole. Immediately behind the façade were small living rooms for the elderly, in the parts of the building behind were the dormitories, sick rooms and monastery cells. The kitchens and laundry were in a separate building. The construction was made financially possible by a bequest from the Gulpen GP Ackens. After a major renovation, the building has been used as the town hall since 1970. The council meets in the chapel. New facilities for the elderly from Gulpen have been established on the outskirts of the built-up area of the town. Houses In the portfolio that Boosten built from 1919 onwards, in addition to several churches, there are several residential houses with spaces for a professional practice, one for a "medical doctor" and one for a painter. It is striking that the formal language of these two designs differs greatly from each other. The doctor's house at Boosten has a round turret in the armpit of two unequal, quaint volumes. Monumental, flat-topped symmetry is an option for the painter. In the first executed commissions for residential houses with space for professional practice, workshop or office, these extremes are no longer present. On the one hand, street wall and urban situation form compelling constraints. On the other hand, the client has something to contribute and, for example, art painters with commissions were very thin on the ground. For the Limburgse Kunstkring (Maastricht), a design is known for a work and exhibition building with studios, which, however, was not executed. In the house with workshop for brick dealer Rosier (1923) on Lyonnetstraat, the gate of the workshop is central to the facade, flanked by two narrower entrance doors with pointed balconies with wooden bibs above them, forming one line with the upper edge of the gate. The eaves project quite far, obscuring the roof slope from view. At the house with office for contractor Mesters (1925) on Fr. Romanusweg there is an emphasis on asymmetry through the entrance porch on the left, the various bay windows, the brick chimney and the careful framing of the skylights. The location of the chimney against the exterior facade is indicative of a changing vision of interior layout. No longer is the fireplace located in the middle of the side wall of the living room but has been moved to the corner. Moreover, it is present as a plastic element on the facade. The first country houses and doctor's villas are located in the periphery, in Geulle along the Maas above Maastricht, in Vaals and on the outskirts of the mining villages of Nieuwenhagen and Eygelshoven. In the detached or only attached on one side, the plasticity in the volumes is striking, emphasized by a variety of detailing in the facades and roof shapes. In the houses for housing association Ons Limburg (1926-'27), these things are also striking. In Lutterade, the houses for mine workers have two substantial gabled roofs set against each other; in the large Langeberg housing complex in Brunssum, the variety of roof shapes, gables, indoor balconies and window solutions in the six types of houses is striking. In the Maastricht villa park, Boosten built several remarkable cluster villas for members of the Coöperatieve Bouwvereniging Ons Belang. The municipality had stipulated after 1920, when the plots were issued, that a double or triple villa was among the possibilities, provided it remained a single building volume. This gave new opportunities to the slightly less wealthy savers. Boosten built a four-double villa here on Lambertuslaan between 1927 and 1930 (among others), which beautifully follows the curve of the avenue. On Graaf Waldeckstraat, a succession of impressive double and triple clustered mansions with high roofs emerged. Toward the end of the 1930s, a new type of country house with a distinctly striking roof made its appearance. There were forerunners, such as the small villa Desmet in Meerssen, in which the gable wall recedes under the roof. In Maastricht, at 'de Witte Roaf' on Tongerseplein, the narrow lower zone has been filled in, but the roof section remains worthwhile. A beautiful roof overhang can be observed at villa Hermans in Schinnen, or at the double mansion for ir. Meyer, on Observantenweg, the last extension of the Maastricht villa park. After 1945, Boosten and the firm's staff were involved in reconstruction. The bureau had quite a few assignments, the drawing work at the bureau was headed by Boosten's close associate ir. J. Witteveen, while the master himself took care of the churches. In the houses before 1950, a few characteristics stand out, such as the brick border around the entrance and a small, round window in the side wall. The rich detailing of pre-World War II designs had to be omitted. A low three-story apartment building with a decorative glass section for the stairwell was finally realized during his last year of life, in Vaals. Boosten's death in January 1951 drew a line through or delayed a number of housing plans, for example in Meerssen and Vaals. Between two world wars Dating from 1914, the first year of World War I, Boosten's article "On Coast Guard at Kijkduin" has been mentioned several times since. Looking from a dune top, he described how the newly built Peace Palace, to a design by the French architect Cordonnier, was visible in The Hague. He expressed disgust at the eclectic architectural style: how could a building with such an important architectural task merely represent the past, a past that had given rise to so many wars. He expressed hope for peace and referred to the possible task of architecture in this. In the unemployed years during World War II, Boosten produced a large number of drawings, elaborating on what he had been working on for more than a quarter of a century earlier, the "Peace Cathedral and International Academy. It remained with a number of very fine charcoal sketches and perspective drawings and a text written in pencil in a draft version.(57) The project not only went back to the aforementioned article, but also had to do with the plans for a Catholic, higher education for the visual arts. A site near the new Maastricht City Hall offices, on the left bank of the Meuse, had been considered as the location. The drawings show an enormous five-aisled, domed cathedral with narrow, high towers. Like a cloister, the Academy is built on several plateaus. The buildings appear to be a continuation of his designs for City Hall offices. The cathedral with its domes and slender towers has something of the very first designs for the Maastricht Koepelkerk. Details show the immense dimensions in the interior, including under the domes. The Academy's courtyards, courtyards and drawing rooms look to a somewhat more human size with large windows facing the river. As already indicated, it didn't happen. However, in 1948 the Jan van Eyck Academy was founded in Maastricht, a higher education for art education, initially only painting. Boosten, Prof. J.J. Timmers, pastor Leo Linssen of the Lambertuskerk at Tongerseplein, Jean Adams by now pastor of Nunhem, both from the teacher corps in the late 1920s from the boarding school at Rolduc, were among the founders.(58) In the years 1940-1944 there was little work for Boosten, who had not signed for the Chamber of Culture. Besides the "Peace Cathedral and International Academy," he undertook another project on a non-profit basis, drawings of many buildings in the Maastricht city center. In always the same scale on an identical scheme, many old houses with unusual facades and many picturesque details were drawn. Renovation of the old city center was one of the municipal plans even before 1940. It is obvious that Boosten, who after all had been a city council member, saw a contribution in the drawings. A second undertaking was less idealistic: the orchard at Meerssen. A piece of meadow, adjacent to a garden house, which served as a weekend retreat, was plowed over in the second year of the war and planted with hundreds of fruit trees to supplement income. A design of the planting with the listing of the many apple varieties is in the archives. The yield each season was such that a fruit cold store was built in 1944. This storage area was also available to the owners of the adjacent plots of land with fruit trees. The weekend house was enlarged and made suitable for more permanent residence. Shortly after the death of Alphons Boosten it was occupied by his son Theo, who enlarged it once more. The surrounding fruit trees were partially maintained. A characteristic of the style of work Several publications have characterized Boosten's first designs as "Amsterdam School. Now that his entire oeuvre has been mapped through the bequeathed archives, it is appropriate to take a closer look at this interpretation. The first buildings in the portfolio preserved from 1919 show that he was well informed about the architecture of his time. He knew work by domestic and foreign luminaries. Of the Dutch not only the work of Berlage, of the teachers of the VHB course but also of his contemporaries such as H.J.M. Walenkamp, for example, his design for an "Academy for Visual Arts or for a Library Building,"(59) not to be executed in brick but as an imposing stuccoed symmetry, with obtuse, flat-topped towers and semicircular arched, profiled entrances. During Sprenger's classes at the Maastricht Stadsteekeninstituut, he was confronted with the severe symmetry of the Americans H. Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Buiten voor de Broeders op de Pietersberg (1920, with Sprenger) is related to both Walenkamp and Richardson in its execution. For the villas and country houses executed after 1925, Boosten's Hague years were more influential than the relatively much shorter time he spent in Amsterdam. The term "Hague School" crops up in a number of reflections on architecture in the first decade of the interwar period.(60) In The Hague, Boosten lived and looked around for years as a conscript soldier. In 1919, he learned of the first plaster models for the new Gemeentemuseum. He saw Berlage's country house Henny on Scheveningseweg (1898). The four-under-one-roof houses by Gort and Robbers (1912) in Belvédère must also have made an impression as well as the villa De Spranck by A.P. Smits and H. Fels (1913), in the English country house style with bay windows, balconies and various gables. Boosten did not visit England himself, but the designs of Sir Edwin L. Lutyens and of C.F. Voysey, at the turn of the century, must have been familiar to Boosten.(61) At least of one of Voysey's villas, he made a sketch during Amsterdam classes. The large bay window-like, semicircular extensions of the early villas at Nieuwenhagen, Eygelshoven and Vaals can be related to the English examples. Boosten had a reservoir of possibilities when he began as an independent architect. He remained receptive to new influences and, in consultation with clients, was given the opportunity to realize them. This is certainly true of the many church buildings, monasteries, school buildings as well as factories. The influence of Frank Lloyd Wright has already been mentioned above. Wright did not die until 1959 and his new work continued to attract constant attention. In the 1920s France became influential, and it is possible that Boosten's visit in 1925 to the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris contributed significantly to this.(62) Renewal is also visible in his work after 1945. In the residential houses, the bungalow makes its appearance, as well as new overhanging roof shapes and an external staircase. One of the last church designs, for Sittard, shows an unprecedented span of the nave with a pent roof. The Horster church shows the slender high vaulted pillars from Le Rancy. Boosten put his architecture lessons into practice. But in the process conceived his own style which, although based on a rich tradition, is creative and new in character - the work of an artist. Notes 1. A. Boosten, "Answer" [to the question of direction in church architecture], in Vocation, 1, 1923 172. 2. Op wacht te Kijkduin, a handwritten text in a school notebook was reprinted in a facsimile edition in 1993 and published in a small edition at the commemoration of Alphons Boosten's 100th birthday in Maastricht. The original manuscript is held by N.H. Tummers in Heerlen. In the Archives Alphons Boosten (AAB) in the Stadsarchief Heerlen, this facsimile can be found in C14. 3. dated 16-3 1937 from a correspondence 1936-1939 between A. Boosten from Maastricht and Fr. Th. Noteboom at Urtegaten, Oslo, Archives of the Franciscan Fathers (OFM) in Amsterdam. Friendly information from Mr. H. Hodzelmans, archivist. 4. J. Ritzen, 'A.J.N. Boosten deceased, 20 January 1893 - 2 January 1951', in Bouwkundig Weekblad 69 (1951), 157-159; J. Adams, 'The artist Boosten', in Het Gildeboek, 33 (1951), 34-35; N.F.A. Miller, 'Horst, Alphons Boosten's last church', in Katholiek Bouwblad, 20 (1953) 385-386; A. Schwencke, 'Alphons Boosten 1873 [sic] -1951', in Katholiek Bouwblad 18 (1951) 145-158; J.J.M. Timmers, 'In memoriam Architect A.J.N. Boosten 1893-1951', in Het Gildeboek, 33 (1951), 1-3. 5. In the AAB many similar photographs by ir. J. Witteveen, Fo 2, 3 and 4. 6. Adams 1951, 34. During this study week in early August 1929, an exhibition of modern painting had also been set up at Rolduc where, in addition to works by Adams himself, Henri Jonas and Mathieu Wiegman were represented: J. Pouls, "Working for a truly vital Catholic culture. Cultural offerings at Rolduc during the Interwar period' in Dedicated to the Service of God, PSHAL 140 (2004) 413-447, 425. 7. L. van Meijel, Stone poems for God and men. The churches of Alphons Boosten in the deaconate of Horst, Nijmegen 1993; idem 'Removed from oblivion. The churches of architect Alphons Boosten, in particular the St. Lambert Church in Horst', in De Maasgouw, 114 (1995) col. 247-268. 8. Stadarchief Heerlen AAB C40, a large number of remnants of this exhibit, mostly copies of calques. 9. S. Minis, and N. Tummers, Minutes of the solemn public meeting of the Council of the Municipality of Maastricht convened at Raadhuize on Wednesday, January 20, 1993 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the Architect & Council Member Alphons Boosten, Maastricht 1993. 10. Memorial book of the Coöperatieve Bouwvereeniging "Ons Belang" G.A. Maastricht 1903-1928, Maastricht 1928. 11. J. Wattjes, Modern Dutch villas, Amsterdam 1929, 36-41.12. A. Boosten, J. Ritzen, "Eygelshoven and Maastricht," in Het Gildeboek, 4 (1921) 25-26. 13. F.C. van Beukering, 'Three new church designs', in Het Gildeboek, 4 (1921) 2. 14. J.M. van Hardeveld, Ars Sacra, Leiden 1929, 11-13, the enlargement of the Margarita church at Margraten, drawings of the not fully executed complex of church and presbytery at Rothem and photographs of the Maastricht Koepelkerk; idem, 'De kerk van den H. Joannes te Eygelshoven (L.).', in Van bouwen en sieren, 1 (1930) 4-6. About this church also 'Vernieuwing in den Roman Catholic Kerkbouw', in Bijvoegsel Algemeen Handelsblad, 19-4 1930, 27-28. The quotation is from Van Bouwen en Sieren, 1930, 5. 15. J. Engelman, 'New church building artistic diversity in Limburg', in De Tijd, 24-9 1937. 16. M.Dickhaut, M.Beks, Contemporary Limburg Art 1937. Retrosoection and Reconstruction, Maasticht 1999, Square Maasticht 5, 45, 105. 17. G. Fanelli, Moderne architectuur in Nederland 1900-1940, The Hague 1978 Cahiers van het Nederlands Documentatiecentrum voor de Bouwkunst 2. Ned. translation of the original text in Italian from 1968. 18. Ed. D. Hannnema e.a., Nederland bouwt in baksteen 1800-1940, cat.tent. Museum Boymans Rotterdam 1941 19. Red. D.Bouvy et al, Hundred years of religious art in the Netherlands 1853-1953, Utrecht 1953; B. Reith, Hundred years of church building in the Netherlands, Haarlem 1953. 20. J. Buch, A century of Dutch architecture 1880-1990, Rotterdam 1993, 268. 21. J. Pouls, True beauty or mere pomp. The Episcopal building commission of Roermond and the ecclesiastical art of Limburg, Maastricht 2002, Limburg-Reeks 6, 126 evv. 22. Genealogical data GA Maastricht Population. 23. Addresses of residence and printing house: Address books Maastricht 1893-1939. 24. H.H.E. Wouters, 'Maastricht book printing past and present 1553-1953', in cat.tent. Maastricht book printing past and present, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht 1953, s.p.nrs. 25. Maastrichts Stadsteekeninstituut archives in GA Maastricht. Willem Sprenger taught architectural drawing until 1920. No student lists have been preserved. On a signed drawing ca. 1910 in the AAB a stamp of the Maastricht Stadsteekeninstituut. 26. Mentioned artists at the Maastricht Stadsteekeninstituut: M. Dickhaut and M. Beks, Hedendaagse Limburgsche Kunst, 1937 Retrospectie en Reconstructie, Maastricht 1999, 20-21. 27. GA The Hague, Archives of the Vereeniging Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Bouwkunde en Kunstnijverheid. The Academy had existed since 1859 and then carried only Fine Arts and Technical Sciences in its title. As of 1912, technical education was at the secondary level. Wiebenga was one of three head teachers. Pupil lists are unfortunately incomplete. 28. Both factory halls and their remarkable concrete construction: ed. N. Bisscheroux and S. Minis, Architectural Guide Maastricht, Maastricht 1997, 40, 90. 29. The letter dates from July 1918 and is in the possession of Nic.H. Tummers, as he says in Alphonse Boosten and the Community, a lecture delivered in October 1993. 30. Inventory of the archives Academy of Architecture Amsterdam (1908-). Archives 1908-1979, Netherlands Architecture Institute z.j., z.p. [Rotterdam]. During the first years of its existence the VHB course was under the Genootschap Architectura et Amicitia, in 1916 the Vereeniging voor Voortgezet en Hooger Bouwkunde onderwijs was founded. 31. W.A.A. Mes, The Koepelkerk, Maastricht 1997, Maastrichts Silhouet 46, 39. 32. GA Amsterdam Population and GA Helmond idem. 33. GA The Hague Bevolking 1919-1920. 34. For Berlage: S. Polano, Hendrik Petrus Berlage. The complete work, Alphen aan de Rijn 1988 (Ned. transl. original text from Italian, 1993), the first draft of the Municipal Museum at The Hague 224 ev. 35. About Ritzen: F. De Blauwe, Jos Ritzen, Antwerp 1957; also GA Heerlen Bevolking 1910-1930. 36. De Blauwe arrives at a total of eight projects in which collaboration took place. There were more. 37. Ritzen 1951, 159. 38. S. Maas, Ons Limburg1911-1981, Heerlen 1981; ed. Vereniging Ons Limburg Heerlen, Building in Limburg. Woningbouw door de Vereniging Ons Limburg sinds haar oprichting, Heerlen/Maastricht 1964. A major impetus for the founding came from the Catholic Bishop H. Poels of Heerlen. 39. L. Lucas, 1917-1967. 50 jaar woningvereniging Sint Mattias, Maastricht 1967. 40. The Brothers of Maastricht: P.J.H. Ubachs, De Beyart, Maastricht 1981, Maastrichts Silhouet 7; The Sisters of Charity of Carolus Borromeus: S. Tagage, W.A. Mes, Onder de Bogen, Maastricht 1987, Maastrichts Silhouet 23. Of the Ursulines who lived and worked in Maastricht, no historiography is known to me. In addition to the orders mentioned, Boosten built for the Franciscan Sisters at Wijck-Maastricht and for the Sisters of Charity of Tilburg at Gulpen. 41. The Limburg Art Society came into existence in 1909 and still exists, see also Dickhaut/Beks 1999, 32. 42. SA Heerlen AAB, C15, correspondence with the Provincial Beautycie. through 1933. Jos.Th.J. Cuypers was also one of the members. 43. H.H.E. Wouters, C.A.J. Scheffers, On the 25th anniversary of the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts. A Century of Painting and Drawing Education in Maastricht 1823-1926, Maastricht 1951, 3, concerning its founding in 1926. Boosten served on the Supervisory Committee from 1930-1940. SA Heerlen AAB C14, Fo6 with pictorial material for various classes. 44. Mes 1997, 33, places the initiative for the dome with Father Luijten. 45. With thanks to Van Meijel 1995, col. 252. 46. Stadsarchief Heerlen AAB C30. 47. Pouls 2002, 143. 48. The history of the realization in A. Beaujean et al, From Heksenbergs historie, published on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Gerardus parish in Heksenberg-Heerlen, z.pl., z.j. (Heerlen 1971). 49. Pouls 2002, 143 ev. 50. The history of the parish and St. Huberus Church: L.M. Alberigs, L.M. Aussems et al, Genhout van 'hoochlant' tot parochiegemeenschap, Beek 1987, Wat Baek ós bud 12, chapters 3 and 4. 51. History in L. M. Alberigs, J. Aussems et al, Genhout van ' hoochlant' tot parish community, Beek 1987, Wat Baek ós bud 12. 52. A history of the neighborhood and the church in C. Baltis, 50 years Keent. Published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the parish of St. Jozeph in Keent/Weert, Weert 1982. 53. Pouls 2002153 evv.; for the different design campaigns also Van Meijel 1995, col. 256 ev. 54. E.M. Dolné, 'Catholic schools in Nijmegen', in ed. D. Nicolaisen, A multicolored habit. Monasteries in Nijmegen in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Grave 1989, 36-53; also Tj. Boersma, T. Verstegen, Netherlands to School. Two centuries of building for a changing education, Rotterdam 1996. 55. The quotation and other data from some newspaper reports, 26 and 27-3 1930,' New hospital at Valkenswaard' in Limburger Koerier and 'Hospital with monastery at Valkenswaard' in an unidentified newspaper, both in Stadsarchief Heerlen AAB, C14. 56. A. van de Molengraft, Three beguines started. History of ten thousand Sisters of Charity 1832-1964, Tilburg 1992, 232. The Tilburg Sisters were active in Gulpen from 1850. 57. SA Heerlen AAB Gr.Map10 sketches and drawings in pencil, charcoal and ink; C29 texts. 58. On this, Pouls 2004, 415-420. 59. A reconstruction in ed. M. Bock et al, Architectura, cat.tent. Architecture Museum Amsterdam 1975, 51 ev. Two other catalogs in this series of five, ed. F. Asselbergs et al., Americana, cat.tent. Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo 1975 and ed. E. Bergvelt et al., Amsterdam School, cat.tent. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1975. 60. V. Freyser and M. Teunissen, Living in The Hague, The Hague 2002, 62 ev.; J. Willink, Jacques Hurks. Huis en Haard, cat.tent Museum de Gulden Roos Roosendaal 2001, s.p.; Boersma/Verstegen 1996, 136; B. Koopmans, J.A. van Oudhuisde, Architectuur en stedebouw in Den Haag 1850-1940, Zwolle/Zeist 1994. N. Prak, Het Nederlands woonhuis van 1840-1940, Delft 1991, does not use the term Hague School. He gives examples in which the work of Fr. Lloyd Wright combined with Amsterdam School and the English country house inspired houses and villas before 1920 in Rotterdam, Hilversum, Dordrecht and Wassenaar. 61. Think of a book like the richly illustrated: ed. W. Shaw Sparrow, The Modern Home. A Book of British Domestic Architecture for Moderate Incomes, London z.j. (ca. 1917), Vol. 5 of the Art and Life Library. In it works by E. Lutyens, C. Voysey, R. Norman Shaw, Ch. Spooner, R. Lorrimer et al. 62. Visit in 1925 to the World's Fair in Paris in "Chronicle," in The Community, 1 (1925), 149 (s.a.) and J.E. and W.M. (Jan Engelman and Willem Maas) in "Thoughts on Architecture," in the same issue of this magazine, pp. 189 and 225. Education: HBS/;Stadstekeninstituut/;drawing lessons with W.L. Sprenger/1913;Academie voor Voortgezette en Hogere Bouwkunst Amsterdam/1918-1920 Additional positions: Limburgsche Kunstkring/member/;Kunstnijverheidsinstituut Maastricht/co-founder/;Jan van Eyckacademie /co-founder/;Roman Catholic State Party /municipal council member/1931-1939;Schoonheidscommissie Valkenburg/member/;beauty committee Valkenburg/ member/. Archives: Stadsarchief Heerlen/Archief Alphons Boosten (SAH, AAB).