A.C. Pierson (1801-1870) Allard Cornelis Pierson was born in Alkmaar on August 20, 1801. His parents were the preacher Allard Pierson (1770-1836) and Johanna Elisabeth Gregorij. Pierson was educated at the Artillery and Engineers School in Delft. In 1820 he passed the engineer's exam and then served in the rank of captain engineer for twenty years in the Corps of Engineers. During that time he was involved in the construction of fortifications in Charleroi and Maastricht, among other places. He lived for some time in Willemstad, where he married Carolina Constantia Bunnik on August 20, 1825. From this marriage three children were born in Willemstad, Allardina Cornelia Geertruida (born 18-02-1825), Johanna Elisabeth (31-7-1829) and Henricus Johannes Christiaan (31-7-1829). Pierson's first wife died on Jan. 1, 1830. On Aug. 31, 1837, Pierson married Hendrika Adriana Maria Papet (also incorrectly listed as Papst). From this second marriage seven children were born, Carolina Elisabeth (06-04-1838 in Amsterdam), Allard (27-11-1839 in Maastricht, died in 1840), Johanna Elisabeth (10-11-1840 in Amsterdam), Arnolda Johanna (08-11-1841 in Amsterdam), Allard (26-10-1843 in Amsterdam), Jan Lodewijk and Carolina Allardina (20-08-1854 in Amsterdam). Pierson's second wife died in Voorburg on April 24, 1859. Pierson was director of the City Factory Office in Amsterdam from 1840-1856. He was involved in the transition from the old system of executive work by the city to the institution of Public Works in 1851. A high-level conflict with W.A. Froger led to his departure from the service in 1856, after which he developed into a specialist in prison construction. Pierson served on the first board of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Bouwkunst and was treasurer from 1846 to 1856. As far as is known, in later years he worked exclusively for the Justice Department. Public Works Amsterdam The Public Works Department came into existence around 1850. There is no exact founding date, but there is talk of a transition from the factory office to Public Works. In the early years, the service was difficult to manage, partly because there was too little money available. A.C. Pierson and J. van Maurik served as director of Stadsfabryckambt and director of Stadswaterwerken during this period, respectively. W.A. Froger, the inspector of Public Works appointed in 1852, immediately made a report on the state of maintenance of the property, which was very poor. He indicated how this situation had arisen, and how the service could be reformed, but the city council was reluctant and preferred to leave things as they were. However, the abuses such as open sewers, mountains of dirt, broken sluice gates and flooded cellar houses, were getting worse. Only the fear of cholera epidemics prompted some action. As a result of the unworkable situation created by Froger's criticism, eventually Froger, Pierson and Van Maurik all had to leave. The new guard, consisting of Verhey, de Greef and van der Sterr, did not venture to make major changes for the first few years. The enormous maintenance backlog continued to grow and the development of Amsterdam was dangerously stagnant. Important decisions such as the possible construction of the North Sea Canal and a connecting railroad station (the later Central Station) were endlessly postponed. As a result, the Amsterdam port was losing more and more ground to other cities. Successor Van Niftrik had many plans (e.g., expansion plan 1867), but they did not come to fruition. At that time there were private initiatives for improvement, for example by Sarphati (garbage collection service). Only in 1876 came a first design of Public Works Amsterdam and this concerns only a billboard. Other street furniture of Public Works Amsterdam consisted of urinals, the rest was private initiative. The leadership of the department initially consisted of a triumvirate (director, city architect and city engineer), but this did not work. In 1873 there was one director, the first being Kalff, who made a second plan for city expansion in 1875. Of this plan, only the station island and the area around Oosterpark were executed exactly as it was. Many other sections were adopted with some modifications. In 1876, a city cleaning system finally arrived and two years later a ban on open sewer ditches. There was hardly any sewage at that time, although some problematic canals were filled in. Kalff also reorganized Public Works. Successor van Hasselt reorganized again and was more successful in realizing projects. The department was split differently than before into a predominantly technical department and the buildings and urban development department. The technical department dealt with utilitarian buildings, paving and water works such as bridges and quays and was headed by the city engineer. The construction of sewers was finally tackled on a large scale. The mortality rate in the poor neighborhoods dropped dramatically. Meanwhile, a process was underway in which initially private initiatives in gas and transportation were continued by the municipality. This provided the Public Works Department of Amsterdam with a lot of work: laying gas pipes, electricity grid, telephone, a streetcar track and all related buildings. For a long time, however, it failed to get a grip on housing construction. The technical department also had trouble with the aesthetic side of bridges, for example. In 1900, for example, H.P. Berlage was approached to give advice on a new bridge to be made. Berlage was then also given a major role in the expansion plans (Plan Zuid), while he also began to act as a kind of aesthetic consultant in all sorts of areas. Under the leadership of W.A. Bos, the division into technical departments continued from 1907. This resulted in an organization with 14 departments, each with its own director. For example, Springer was the director of the Buildings Department, but he was also the only architect within the department. Bos hired a number of architects from about 1910, with J.M. Van der Mey taking on the role of aesthetic consultant from 1911. Bos did his best to properly delineate the consultant's position in relation to the director of the department. The consultant was initially a temporary position and he was not involved in the execution. Other newly hired architects were P.L. Marnette, P. Kramer (assistant to Van der Mey) and M. De Klerk. Also, in addition to practical engineers, scientifically trained engineers entered the service. Meanwhile, Berlage continued to work on urban extensions, resulting in the Plan Zuid. The new advisor soon came under fire when the first building designed entirely by Van der Mey and Kramer, the IJ Pavilion, went substantially over budget. A more austere bridge house set the tone for diverse street furniture. The replacement of street furniture became the consultant's core task; from 1911 onward, much furniture was replaced and improved. This explains why school construction between 1911 and 1914 was still rather traditional in character; austere neo-styles determined the appearance here. After 1914, the influence of Van der Mey also became visible in this area. Street furniture In the nineteenth century, street furniture was mainly a matter of private initiative, for example kiosks. It was not until 1918 that Public Works Amsterdam became concerned with complaints about the lack of facilities for kiosk personnel and sought a standard kiosk design. Two types were chosen, designed by J. de Meyer and N. Lansdorp, which replaced the old kiosks. There were also small buildings that housed a combination of functions, such as public telephone, waiting room for streetcar and the like. At the same time, combination buildings with transformer houses were also built, mostly to the design of A.A. Kok. From 1900 the streetcar became a municipal affair, and so after that all facets (laying rails, guardhouses and depots) fell under Public Works. The other elements of public space (roads, cables and pipes located below them) generally provided little cooperation with the Buildings Department, but transformer houses, for example, were often designed by architects from the Buildings Department. Starting in 1906, large-scale sewer construction finally began. The construction of the North Sea Canal (1876-) and the Willem II locks had severely reduced the flow of the canals. Since all houses still discharged directly into the canal, this caused many odor problems. In conjunction with the construction of sewers, a number of water treatment plants were needed. No architect was usually named for these works, but the works are included here. This also applies to pumping stations, for example, Westerman designed one in collaboration with engineers from the Port and Water Works Department. The role of A.R. Hulshoff A.R. Hulshoff became the head of the Buildings Department in 1915. At this time - due to Bos' reorganization - there were a total of 14 departments: Buildings, Planting, Paving, Bridges, Site Preparation, Ground Company, Port and Water Works, Sewerage and Water Refreshment, Urban Development, Utility Building, Municipal Workshops, Tools, Administration and Secretariat. On various projects, other departments collaborated with the Buildings Department, such as pumping stations and swimming pools. Moreover, General Director Bos stated in 1916 that works by other departments, if they involved an issue of an aesthetic nature, should also be submitted to Hulshoff. Under Hulshoff's leadership, the Buildings Department was given more financial leeway. As a result of the poor economic conditions caused by World War I, many architects from the private sector were laid off, wanting to work temporarily - also for low pay - for the Public Works Department of Amsterdam. M. de Klerk, too, joined Public Works as a temporary architectural officer on September 1, 1915, but left the Service after only a few months. Architects were given on-call contracts of a sort, but in the uncertain time during the war many wanted this, for example N. Lansdorp and A.J. Westerman. Others found the civil service method oppressive and soon left, e.g. M. de Klerk (six months) and G.J. Rutgers (gone in 1919). Incidentally, architects were also allowed to maintain their own offices. As a result, both private and government works can be found in the works lists of these archtitects. Influenced in part by van der Mey, Kramer, and de Klerk, a distinctive design style emerged that is subsequently referred to as the Amsterdam School. The change in style began with street furniture and became evident in school designs beginning around 1914. Hulshoff emerged as an ardent advocate of sculpture in buildings, so Hildo Krop was brought in as city sculptor in 1916. Many building sculptures were used in schools as well as bridges. After about 1930, the style tightened and more and more flat roofs were used. The crisis also limited the building budget. Meanwhile, Hulshoff himself was active in the planning of the academic hospital, the Wilhelmina Hospital. With the completion of the Second Surgical Clinic, most of his 1926 plan had come to fruition. Urban Development The role of the city development department increased greatly during the 20th century. As early as the 19th century there were several plans, for example those of Van Niftrik from 1867 and Kalff from 1875. Subsequent expansion plans are only for part of the city, lacking coherence. Starting in 1896, land is issued on a long lease, with the municipality preparing land for building and regulating water management. In 1901 followed the Housing Act, in 1905 the Building Ordinance and a major improvement in building and housing supervision. In 1921, the city expanded significantly with the annexation of several areas, including Amsterdam Noord. The combination of water management and site preparation, ensured that building sites were now constructed well above the water level (1 meter on average). By 1916, the Municipal Housing Service had already been established, headed by A. Keppler. However, the Public Works Department was also concerned with urban development. Housing construction in the districts of Public Works Amsterdam was always carried out by private architects, although this included many (former) employees of the service. A kind of competition developed between the two services, which was "won" by Public Works. This is partly because the Municipal Housing Service paid too little attention to water management and the connection between neighborhoods. A new attempt at overall planning for expansions was initiated by Bos in 1926 and became an official part of Public Works in 1928. In 1935 the AUP, the General Expansion Plan, was published by Cornelis van Eesteren. This would become the guideline for the expansions of the following decades. UvA The municipal university was the responsibility of Public Works from 1877 until its separation in about 1971. Consequently, the building sites and many designs came from this department. This led to a somewhat ambiguous policy in the case of the Binnengasthuis; here the interests of the university and of the municipal hospital often did not coincide. Eventually, the university hospital came to occupy the grounds of the Buitengasthuis. The development of the Binnengasthuis stagnated thereafter. In 1955, the three-core plan emerged, bringing together the alpha, beta and medical faculties each at its own location. The alphas thereby came to the Binnengasthuis grounds, where there was sufficient space after the departure of the Dutch Bank. The Municipality was able to direct these processes to a great extent, since it had promised the bank the area of the planned city hall on Frederiksplein. The beta subjects were housed on the Roeterseiland where several laboratories were already located by then. The first new building differed greatly in scale from its surroundings, leading to many protests. The medical faculties were planned around the Wilhelmina Hospital. When the latter proved unfeasible, a site in the Bullewijk was chosen; this is where the current Academic Medical Center, the AMC, arose. At the same time, there were always proposals to move the university to the periphery of the city, just like the Vrije Universiteit on the Boelelaan. This was mainly because in the 1960s the number of students grew excessively and there was a constant housing problem. The position of Public Works Amsterdam is clear from a 1967 memo advocating the maintenance of the University in the center: "It would therefore be an impoverishment if the University were to retreat to a more isolated situation on the outskirts of society, for in spite of all good connection and other precautions the connection with urban life is lost to a considerable extent. An accompanying map from that year shows that the planned alpha cluster then extends all the way to Oude Hoogstraat, causing many protests. This area contained many residential monuments, which would surely have to give way to large lecture halls. In the meantime, the University moved into several office buildings that had come about outside the influence of Public Works. With the removal of municipal funding and the separation of university and municipal administration, the University of Amsterdam began an independent existence. Welfare The beauty commission had been active since about 1880 but was temporarily absent. There was a committee old and new town, but they did not review designs by the municipality. For new municipal plans for expansion districts, supervisors were appointed, for example Hulshoff or Gratama, who acted as coordinators and welstand committee for the entire district. Public Works Amsterdam also carried out a large number of restorations, especially in the inner city. This and other monument work was overseen by the Old Town Beauty Commission based on an initial monument ordinance from 1927. This required the municipality to give permission for conversion or demolition of listed properties. There was also the beginning of a zoning ordinance. When director Bos left in 1926, De Graaff of the Bridge Department succeeded him. There was increasing criticism from the city council about the high cost of the "decorated buildings. The design style sobered and tightened from about 1930 to an Amsterdam variant of the New Objectivity. However, a remnant of the Amsterdam School style can often still be recognized in the detailing. In 1946 both de Graaff and Hulshoff left the service and a new period began with Leupen as director of Buildings. The city development department became increasingly important, and sanitation and scaling up were spearheads of the policy. Amsterdam-Zuidoost was designed and the subway was constructed. With the establishment of the district councils in about 1985, Public Works Amsterdam was split up by district and this once mighty department lost its grip on the city. What remains is an incredible amount of buildings and street furniture. Pierson as architect of Justice After his period with the Amsterdam municipality, Pierson worked as an independent architect. In the years 1857-1870, he designed buildings for the Ministry of Justice as a private architect. He succeeded as permanent architect of Justice I. Warnsinck, who drew the new building plans for 1857. That year, the Minister of Justice attempted to appoint Pierson to a permanent position, but was denied permission by the House of Representatives, which feared there would be insufficient work. The minister then devised the construction of an "Advisor-Architect. Despite not being hired on a permanent basis, he had plenty of work on prison construction. He had his own supervisors and other staff, to the dismay of the House of Representatives. Although some of the work had to be left to lower authorities, the standards set by Pierson were so strict that there was little room for other architects to make their own contributions. Under Pierson's supervision, the Justice Department's oversight was also strengthened with respect to prisons that were not (yet) owned by the state. In 1863, Pierson was commissioned to design a prison on the Noordsingel in Rotterdam. This innovative building is Allard Pierson's main work. After many many changes and modifications at the insistence of the Department of Justice, construction began in 1866, but work was halted again shortly thereafter. Completion of the complex followed in 1870-1872. This so-called "cellular prison" was a new type of building around 1870. To exclude any contact between inmates, the entire complex was cellular, including the church, the hospital, the teaching rooms and the walking areas. For this purpose, cabins were applied, from which the prisoners could see and hear the asylum authorities, but not each other. Pierson visited the Berlin-Moabit and Bruchsal prisons in preparation for his project. There are also similarities with institutions in Leuven and Copenhagen. For the location of the wings in relation to each other, the first design for the Utrecht prison of 1851 served as a model. That plan had been designed by Warnsinck. The complex consists of an administration building and a central hall, to which four cell wings are connected by 'halls'. Although Pierson was originally engaged for prison construction, by a roundabout route he also became involved with court buildings. This happened, for example, where a house of detention was also needed, but the courthouse was in fact the main focus. Eventually Pierson realized a central government involvement for the buildings of the judiciary as well. Under Pierson's leadership, the cell shortage was addressed and the Netherlands found itself in line with technical and architectural developments in prison construction abroad. In connection with plans for a small cantonal penitentiary in Sommelsdijk, Pierson was commissioned in 1859 to design a standard plan for a House of Detention cum Cantonal Court in the countryside. He made two models: one with a prison wing of five cells and two larger rooms and the other with three cells and one room. In both cases, the cantonal court was housed in a transverse front building. This contained on the first floor an office, a cypher's residence and a room for visitors. On the first floor, he planned rooms for the constable, the clerk's office and the associated archives. The standard plans served as a starting point and guideline for the architects who designed the various complexes. The buildings were usually founded at the initiative of municipalities. In order to receive government support for construction, they had to adhere to Pierson's strict guidelines. On the basis of these schemes, Houses of Detention were created with Cantonal Courts in Schiedam, Sommelsdijk, Boxmeer and Den Helder. Both private architects and Waterstaat architects were brought in to draw up the plans. The complex in Boxmeer was designed by the private architect J.F. Beuyssen, and the House of Detention cum Cantonal Court in Sommelsdijk was designed by the public works architect Pieter Caland. Pierson's standard plans also remained in use in slightly modified form under his successor J.F. Metzelaar for the construction of a large number of district courts. From Pierson only a small number of buildings are known. However, he was of great influence on the development of prison construction in the Netherlands with the introduction of the cellular system. The BONAS inventory For BONAS, the inventory was mainly based on literature research. The very large archive of Public Works Amsterdam could not be included in the research for practical reasons. Literature: C.J. van der Peet and G.H.P. Steenmeijer, De Rijksbouwmeesters. Two centuries of the Rijksgebouwendienst and its precursors, Rotterdam 1995. I. Jager, Capital in default. Maneuvering with public works in Amsterdam 1851-1901, Rotterdam 2002. Additional positions: Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Bouwkunst/treasurer/1846-1857;Advisory committee on renovation of Kunstzaal genootschap Arti et Amicitiae Amsterdam/member/1841 Archives: Amsterdam Municipal Archives/Archives of City Works and Buildings, enc.no.5361