(Bonas Essay by M. Kruidenier; abridged version) G.A. van Arkel (1858-1918): from neo-style to New Art Background and education. Gerrit van Arkel was born on April 3, 1858 in Loenen aan de Vecht, the son of Adrianus van Arkel and Maria Elisabeth Rijken. Although of humble origins, he attended not only the village school, but also the "Fransche school," a school aimed primarily at children of the wealthier upper class. After his schooling, Van Arkel soon began working. He learned drawing from Mr. J.P. Lutgers, a well-known publisher of collections of steel engravings and lithographs at the time. At the age of 14, Van Arkel was apprenticed as a carpenter's apprentice to Mr. Fluijt. He then worked for a short time in Baarn and then in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Van Arkel took evening classes at the Industry School of the Society for the Working Class. This first Amsterdam trade school had been founded in 1861, among others by the architect J.H. Leliman. Leliman was especially famous as a critic, benefactor and writer. During the day, Van Arkel worked as a draftsman in the office of architect Jan Galman, one of the other board members of the Industrieschool. Jan Galman became known for his visionary designs for a bridge over the IJ River. Wilkens, Van Arkel and Breman Meanwhile, Van Arkel had become acquainted with W. Wilkens. Wilkens, born in 1855, was chef-de-bureau with the architect G.B. Salm. In 1876, through Wilkens, Van Arkel joined Salm's office as a draftsman. A few years later, in January 1880, Van Arkel moved from Loenen to Amsterdam, where he came to live at 25 Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. In 1882, Van Arkel decided to stop teaching at the Industrieschool. He settled, at the age of 23, together with Wilkens as an independent architect at 494 Prinsengracht. The collaboration between Wilkens and Van Arkel was only short-lived. In December 1883, Wilkens left for Java for health reasons, only to die in Djoeana on February 16, 1884. Van Arkel, together with the supervisor Van Vliet and a number of apprentices, continued the Wilkens & Van Arkel firm. As of 1893, Wilkens' name no longer appeared in the office name and the office continued under the name Van Arkel. In 1885, Van Arkel married Anna Maria Cramer. In 1901, Van Arkel divorced her and remarried a month later to Maria Elisabeth Martha du Pré, eleven years younger. Together they moved to Abcoude on May 4, 1909. The firm remained based in Amsterdam. In January 1915, for health reasons, Van Arkel associated himself with the younger H.J. Breman, an architectural engineer who had already been working for him for several years. Van Arkel died on July 11, 1918. He was buried at the cemetery in Baambrugge. Breman continued the firm, which by now was located at Keizersgracht 760. Van Arkel, Architectura et Amicitia From 1879 to 1895, Van Arkel was a member of the society Architectura et Amicitia in Amsterdam. This society had been founded in 1855 by young "architects" with the aim of stimulating each other. Especially in the 1880s, Van Arkel was very active within this society. In the years 1880-1885, he held several lectures on various building materials, such as iron, natural stone, ceramics and brick. The fact that Van Arkel possessed a good knowledge of materials is also evidenced by the fact that he was included in a committee to answer questions especially for this subject. Van Arkel, Weissman and the antiquities The architects A.W. Weissman (1858-1923) and Gerrit van Arkel first met around 1877 at the society Architectura et Amicitia. This meeting led to a long-term friendship that would last until Van Arkel's death in 1918. Together, Van Arkel and Weissman were members of the "Commission for the conservation of buildings and objects that are important for the knowledge of the life of one's ancestors. This committee had been created in 1887 by the board of the Royal Archaeological Society. The committee decided to compile an inventory of all ancient structures and objects still present in our country. Van Arkel, given his historical and architectural knowledge, was the appropriate person to do this. He had already measured and drawn several old buildings. Some of his drawings had already been published, such as the sketches he made in Hoorn in 1884. In their spare time, Weissman and Van Arkel traveled the entire province of North Holland to describe, recreate and, with the advent of photography, photograph old buildings and antique objects from before 1700. The results of the research were published in eight volumes by the Royal Dutch Antiquarian Society between 1891 and 1905. From 1899 to 1906 Van Arkel was a member of the Amsterdam city council, in which he belonged to the liberal democratic group. The council reports show that Van Arkel was not very active as a council member. His name appears very rarely in the reports. However, Van Arkel did serve on a few committees. Shortly after his appointment as a council member, he was appointed to the "Commissie van Advies in zake wijziging der bepalingen omtrent minimum loon en maximum arbeidstijd in de bestekken der Gemeentewerken" (Advisory Committee on Changes to the Minimum Wages and Maximum Working Hours in Specifications for Municipal Works). In 1900, Van Arkel was appointed a member of the "Commissie tot nazien der Gemeenterekening". And in 1903 Van Arkel was re-elected to the 'Commission of public works'. Among other things, he also worked on the revision of the building ordinance in 1905. More interesting is Van Arkel's motion in 1901 to reappoint a municipal architect. The last city architect had been his friend A.W. Weissman, who had been fired in 1891 due to self-serving actions. The new municipal architect, separate from the Public Works Department, would be able to advise the municipality on aesthetic matters. This would make the beauty commission redundant. Van Arkel's motion was supported by the society Architectura et Amicitia. The society endorsed the importance of a municipal architect, but also pointed to the importance of the beauty commission. The city council, on the other hand, feared that the arrival of a municipal architect would lead to the emergence of an 'official [architectural] style' and ultimately rejected Van Arkel's proposal. Some years later, however, a municipal architect would be appointed again. Van Arkel and building In his early years, Van Arkel built mainly richly decorated residential and commercial houses. He possessed a great fondness for the Dutch Renaissance style of the late sixteenth, early seventeenth century, which he frequently applied in his buildings. Typical of Van Arkel's work from this period is the office building cum residence for Mr. Rutters on De Ruyterkade in Amsterdam, which he designed together with Wilkens in 1883. Van Arkel's increasing interest in foreign architecture is evident from several designs he made at the end of the nineteenth century. He was inspired by German-Swiss architecture. Gradually, Van Arkel's designs became increasingly austere. In conclusion Van Arkel's work was widely appreciated in his time. In 1883 and 1884, for example, work by Wilkens & Van Arkel was exhibited several times at the society "Architectura et Amicitia. The appreciation of Van Arkel's work, however, was expressed mainly in the many architectural awards he won. In 1881 Van Arkel received an honorable mention for his entry in a competition for a "monumental stone bridge over a city canal with three passages", organized by the society "Architectura et Amicitia. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, his entry for the Nederlandsche Afdeeling Schoone Kunsten was awarded a bronze medal. Education: Industrieschool of the Society for the Working Class Amsterdam/ Secondary activities: Architectura et Amicitia/member/1879-1895; K.O.G./'Committee of supervision for the preservation of buildings and objects, which are important for the knowledge of the life of one's ancestors'/member/1987-1905; Amsterdam city council/member/1899-1906; Amstelodamum/member/1900-1918/board member/1908-1918; Archaeological Society Niftarlake/board member/1912-1918