(abridged version Bonas Essay) C.J. Blaauw (1885-1947) Architect C.J. Blaauw quickly made a name for himself in his younger years. His early work is still widely known and appreciated and is considered part of the Amsterdam School. Much less is known about his later work from the 1930s. The work from this period is characterized by a sober design style that appeals less to the imagination than the distinctly expressive and decorative Amsterdam School architecture. Typically, Blaauw received large representative commissions precisely in the 1930s. Cornelis Jouke Blaauw was born in Amsterdam on October 12, 1885, the son of Engele Ebes Blaauw and Elisabeth Woudstra. Blaauw attended the 3-year HBS in Amsterdam and an evening drawing school. He did not study architecture; he learned his trade in practice. During his apprenticeship, Blaauw worked at the offices of Berlage and De Bazel, where he came into contact with P. Vorkink and J.F. Staal. In the period 1908-1911 he was employed by the office of H.A.J. Baanders. From 1912-1915 he was an associate at the bureau of Jacot and Zinsmeister in Amsterdam. Blaauw had been a member of the Genootschap Architectura et Amicitia (A. et A.) since 1905 and met many prominent architects there. In 1916, Blaauw married Anna Frederike Berkhout. The first years of marriage were very important for Blaauw as an architect. They were years in which architectural culture went through a stormy development; Blaauw was an active participant in the architectural discussion. His membership in A. et A. was of great importance in this. It brought him into contact with influential fellow architects such as Berlage, De Bazel, Kromhout, Lauweriks, De Klerk, Kramer, Wijdeveld, Vorkink, Staal, Boeyinga and Gratama. There was an atmosphere of change within A. et A. In 1917 there was a change of board, with the young guard taking the wheel. In addition to Blaauw, this new board included Gratama, Van der Mey, Staal, Vorkink and De Klerk. In 1921 Blaauw designed one hundred houses for the housing association `Our Woning' on Olympiaweg in Amsterdam, part of Plan-Zuid. His design for a block of three floors plus attic under a flat roof has a clear Amsterdam School signature. The ultimately realized residential block differs greatly from the initial design. To ensure the smooth running of the project, architect Gratama was appointed supervisor to 'determine the silhouette of the street and square walls and to control the connection of the architecture of the various blocks'. In this way an attempt was made to obtain a harmonious whole. All houses were given the same standard plan; only the facades were designed by the architects. This working method, later called "apron architecture," was often the subject of discussion. The method was aided by the influential role of the beauty committee, which had a clear preference for the Amsterdam School, but was given authority only over the exterior. Two other public housing projects by Blaauw from the late 1920s show a sobering down of his style. In Amsterdam-West, on Orteliusstraat in 1927, austere sturdy building blocks in heavy angular forms emerged. A year later, in Amsterdam-Zuid on Jekerstraat, a building block was realized in collaboration with architect J.F. Repko (1883-1955), who was also the client. The almost flat facade with a few accents in the form of bay windows and two raised gables does not remind in any way of Blaauw's earlier exuberant work. The austerity of the architecture was partly the result of the deteriorating economic situation, which no longer permitted the abundance of expensive materials and handiwork. However, the change in style was also the result of the architect's personal development, with the turning point being around 1925. It is clear that Blaauw had exchanged the lavish formal language of the Amsterdam School for a different course in which simplicity, austerity and an almost classical design are characteristic. There were also changes in his work situation. In 1924 he was honorably dismissed as a result of a reorganization at the Dienst Landsgebouwen, and in 1925 he became director of the Haarlem school for Architecture, Decorative Arts and Crafts, together with Vorkink and Verkruysen. However, the school was closed a year later due to budget cuts. In 1926, Blaauw started his own firm in Amsterdam. From 1925, Blaauw regularly participated in major competitions, mostly by invitation, but also on his own initiative, such as his solution to the Rokin problem. A major success in his career was the crowning of his 1929 competition design for Minervaplein. In the following years, Blaauw was active as a designer of town halls. He was co-invited in 1930 to make a sketch plan for a new town hall in Bloemendaal. Of the seven architects who submitted plans for the first round, A. van der Steur and Blaauw were finally allowed to make a second design. Blaauw emerged as the winner, but the plan ultimately could not be implemented for financial reasons. Blaauw was more successful with his competition design for the Leiden Town Hall. The old town hall had been largely destroyed by fire and in 1932 a competition was held for a new building that would retain the old facade. After a long preliminary phase, Blaauw was appointed architect in 1934 to further develop his competition design and execute the final design. The completed project received rave reviews and is even considered his main work. The design for Leiden was followed by more designs for town halls, four in total in the period 1937-1940, two of which were executed. Blaauw's last major work was the Council of Labor building on Wibautstraat in Amsterdam. Blaauw obtained the commission in 1940 and was completed after his death in 1947 by ir. H.T. Zwiers. The colossal building appears severe and monumental due to the dominant window rhythm of the facades. The tall office building has, invisible from the street, a large roof terrace for the office staff. Zwiers found the building almost ascetic in character. According to him, this was a reaction to what Blaauw still considered too much in the three council houses. Many saw Blaauw as an Amsterdam School architect, who later built in a less inspired manner. Zwiers reversed that view. According to him, the Leiden Town Hall was Blaauw's most important work and the early period was a run-up phase, after which Blaauw would only fully develop his style in the 1930s. A historical judgment sometimes says more about the time and norms, within which a judgment is made than about what is described. As an architect, Blaauw went through a personal development and followed his own path between the architectural movements of his time. This makes him difficult to place and has caused his oeuvre often to receive attention only in parts. Education: HBS Amsterdam/; evening drawing school/. Additional functions: Society Architectura et Amicitia/member/1905; School for Architecture, Decorative Arts and Crafts Haarlem/teacher of architecture/1915; Society Architectura et Amicitia/board member/1917; magazine Architectura/editor/1917; magazine Wendingen/editorial member/1918; Haarlem school/director/1925-1926.