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 Rietveld Schroder House Gerrit Thomas Rietveld 1924 Gerrit Rietveld belongs to the De Stijl movement. Other famous artists and architects involved were Piet Mondriaan and J.J.P. Oud. As part of the movement, primary colors such as red, blue, and yellow, are used predominantly.
Gerrit Rietveld designed the Schroder house for Mrs. Truus Schröder-Schräder. After her husband passed away she required a smaller house for herself and three children. She lived in the house from its construction in 1924 to her death in 1985. The house has two levels. The lower floor consists of the kitchen/dining/living area, a reading room, a studio space which until 1933 Gerrit Rietveld used for his own office, the servant's bedroom, and a storage room. The upper floor was considered attic space according to the building code. All the sleeping areas were located up in that space and the bedrooms were divided only by portable partitions. The concept was used so that the children could have a bigger open space to play during the day and then close it up to have a more private bedroom at night.
Mrs. Schroder provided criteria for the design of the rooms: 1. A bed should be able to fit in the room in at least 2 different positions. 2. Each room should have direct water supply and drainage. 3. Each room should have a door that gave access to the outside. Gerrit Rietveld was able to meet all the criteria and created a masterpiece by paying a lot of attention to details, including the paint color on the wall. It might seem like a mural canvas, but each area is painted a certain color for specific reasons. For example, on the door there is an area painted black because it is likely the area that is accessed the most and therefore most likely to be soiled.
Gerrit Rietveld started out as a furniture maker and that shows up in a lot of the detailing of the house. The design of the portable partitions, the window screen, the table for the children and many more of the details show his ingenuity. The location of the house used to be considered as the outskirts of Utrecht, and has an unobstructed view. Rietveld designed the house with that in mind, with a window on the upper floor that opens up the corner of that floor to the exterior. It was used to provide Mrs. Schroder with a great view, until a highway was constructed in front of the house.
Wilma Kwan 2003
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How to visit You can take bus 4 from the central train station in Utrecht to the Hooghstraat, or another suggestion is to rent a bike. If biking from the central train station, head east towards Wilhelmina Park. Go through the park and you will be on Prins Hendriklaan. Once you pass Gerrit Rietveldhof you will see the office for the tour on your left hand side next to the Rietveld Schroder House. The house is open for visits and reservations are required. For reservations please call +31 (0)30 2362 310 or fax to +31 (0)30 2332 006. Each tour only allows a maximum of 10 people. The tour is about 1.5 hours long and includes a visit to the building at Erasmuslaan 9 designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld also. For more information please
visit www.centraalmuseum.nl
or call Books and other web sites Click the links below
either to see more information or to order
direct from
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