5.3 The Morphology of Heusden's Townscape

5.4 The Dynamics of Urban Transformation

5.5 Conclusion

In the previous chapters, much space has been devoted to detailing the process of obtaining information about the changes (the events) that occurred. This chapter, by contrast, deals with the visual history of change and with continuity in the townscape. Whereas in the previous chapter, urban development was mainly illustrated by means of layers-of-time, i.e. the six reference dates, this chapter deals with the graphical computer as a means of ordering and selecting various kinds of graphical material. In the layers-of-time approach, only relevant aspects of the town related to a reference date were combined. The information from the three-dimensional models, however, can also be analyzed across layers or by theme.

The method used here follows the general description given in Chapter I. We start with a typology of the buildings in Heusden and then proceed to a global investigation of the elements of the city and the relation between the buildings and urban morphology. In order to finally assess the dynamic process of change and continuity, the dynamics of the city itself are considered.

Using the CAD-system as a visual database system, the bitmap textures of the façades have been ordered in new combinations, as in the previous chapter, with first the street walls and then the architect-restored buildings and also chronologically with respect to their restoration. These categories were chosen because they appeared most appropriate for detailed examination. However, many more are possible, and we also added the category of the façades ordered by century.

These images were used as a basis for the typological analysis of various aspects of the development of Heusden's townscape: the development of its buildings and types, its structure and scale, and its dimensions. The façades of the houses within the Putterstraat and Burchtterrein area and the waterfront were surveyed again in the first section by means of computer images. Here, the treatment of different kinds of façades in the 20th century, the development of styles, types, and functions can be traced in the computer images.

In the second section, we deal with the spatial morphology of Heusden and transformation over time, based on the two and three-dimensional models of the 20th-century development used earlier as illustrations to the previous chapter, and also on the information from the former chapters. In this way, the typical elements of Heusden's morphology and how this information was used after the Second World War is discussed. Here again, it means that some aspects, already touched upon in general in Chapter I and with regard to Heusden in Chapters III and IV, need to be re-assessed in a different way or in some different combination.

The concluding section deals with how the town has changed. Rather than showing the influence of conscious management, the computer models can help to make visible urban processes that proceed more or less independently of planning processes. Topics such as Heusden's dynamic process of development and the visible image in the townscape versus the self-image of the town are assessed.

The changing ideas regarding the townscape can best be seen in the treatment of the façades. Subtle changes in scale, proportions, façade openings, can be studied in two-dimensional street wall computer images. Similar to the images of the street walls, images of buildings from a specific group were selected and projected side by side. Several new combinations were created with the bitmap textures, starting with a classification of the façades per century. In order to be able to study the development of local building types, the changing functions of buildings, the treatment of listed and non-listed buildings, it was necessary to make a typological arrangement.
Since this project deals with the exterior of buildings, Meischke's typological system (discussed in Chapter I), which is based on the architectural analysis of buildings and on the interior division of dwellings, cannot be applied here¹. Instead, we made, to some extent, use of the typological method used in the Geïllustreerde Beschrijving (Illustrated Description) of the houses of Utrecht in which the volume of the buildings and the orientation of the roofs are taken as a basis. In contrast to the starting point of that study, which was to describe only listed buildings, we included all buildings encountered in the area of interest².

An attempt at a typological arrangement of façades immediately involved some complications. Buildings, and lower fronts in particular, have changed in the course of time. For example, at Vismarkt 14 the original building construction dates from c.1600, whereas the lower front was changed around 1850, and the complete building was restored to its original 17th-century appearance in 1969. Clearly, there is a problem as to how to classify this building. Do we choose the original year of its construction, the 19th-century changes or the latest restoration for classification purposes? Further, an arrangement per century also involves the complication of overlapping building styles and types during a single century. In order to deal with these problems, Jantzen's drawings were used again as our point of departure. He not only mentioned the approximate year of construction of the façades and possible dates of alteration, he also provided a map of in which the century of construction of the buildings (16th, 17th, 18th, 19th or 20th) was indicated. Using the dates mentioned on the map, most of the façades within the area of interest were investigated and grouped by century. The approximate date of the façade mentioned in the 1943 drawings served as reference date³.

Since the typology was based on the volume of the buildings, each group of buildings from a particular century was further subdivided according to façade characteristics into listed and non-listed buildings. This distinction was necessary to study whether the listed buildings were treated differently from the non-listed buildings during the restoration period. The listed and non-listed buildings were further classified into deep houses (buildings with ridges at right angles to the street) and transversal houses (buildings with ridges parallel to the street), and, to a limited extent, the square house. In addition, they were roughly classified by height (number of stories), function, and appearance (gables, cornices, simple dwellings, mansions, warehouses, town farms, etc). Two other types mentioned in the Geïllustreerde Beschrijving, namely, complex houses and the building block, appeared to be almost completely absent in the area of interest and therefore did not need to be assigned separate categories.

The images, ordered per century and displaying the six reference dates, were used in the present project to examine the changes in and the treatment of the façades in the 20th century. This analysis deals with one or sometimes several computer images at a time. Because the façades have been arranged in specific groups, they are dealt with in groups, although each building has its own history. In order to avoid having to describe each individual building, we choose to focus on some general aspects and distinctive changes. By arranging most of the buildings from the area of interest according to this system, common characteristics become apparent. The system of classification is pragmatic, and a more detailed or different ordering of buildings would certainly be possible. However, that would increase the number of illustrations even more. So, rather than aiming at a fully elaborated typology, we decided on a more pragmatic approach focusing on some specific aspects. Though we mainly used the typology for two-dimensional analysis of the façades in this section, the same system could be used for three-dimensional research - the building as spatial form, or the town block, for example.

We start here with an overview of the building types present in Heusden and their functions and development, followed by a more detailed examination of the changes in the façades during the 20th century.

Development of types and functions

The main public buildings in Heusden have already been described in the previous chapter: the Catharijne Church, the old Town Hall and the new one, the Fishmarket Hall, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Post Office. Besides these main public buildings, there are no real monumental buildings in Heusden which evidence great wealth and prosperity. The architecture of the civic buildings in Heusden can be characterized as relatively simple and generally soberly decorated. Scattered over the town, a few more richly decorated buildings from the early 17th century can be found: for example, Hoogstraat 4, Breestraat 13, Vismarkt 1, Vismarkt 7⁴. But, as mentioned in Chapter I, a town mainly consists of many, relatively simple buildings. In general, the size of these buildings is quite small. Most houses on the main street had (and still have) only a groundfloor and two upper stories. In the secondary street (Putterstraat), dwellings have no more than two stories.

>From the 16th to the 19th century, the arrangements of the façades of deep houses show a rather limited number of forms. The arrangement of narrow façades with two bays is usually 2-2-1⁵. A more current arrangement is the façade with three bays 3-2-1 or with cornices 3-2 or 3-3, sometimes with dormers. The higher and more important gables with three bays may have the arrangement of 3-3-2-1 or 3-2-2-1. Cornices of this type may have the arrangement of 3-3-3, 3-3-2 or 3-2-2, 2-2-2 for narrow buildings. These higher buildings can be found in Heusden along Breestraat, Botermarkt and there are some individual ones in Hoogstraat, Pelsestraat and Vismarkt. Cellars have been left out of this study since they are considered part of the interior. However, the exteriors of the buildings often show cellar (or former cellar) windows and trapdoors. Transversal houses 1600-1850 in Heusden usually have four or five bays.

Taking into consideration that Heusden is situated between the provinces of Holland and Brabant and belonged to Holland between 1357 and 1813, it is no surprise that the influence of both Holland and Brabant architectural style can be seen. If we take a general look at the buildings present in Heusden, we see that the building stock presents a variety of houses.

There are only a few houses left that date from before 1572, though there are more buildings in which traces from the Middle Ages can be found⁶. More or less unaltered façades dating from before 1600, are - apart from the Town Hall and the church - the corner of Pelsestraat and Putterstraat; Wijksestraat 8; Waterpoort 1a; Engstraat 6/4. There are several interesting Dordtse gables and Renaissance stepped and shaped gables⁷. These gables were mostly built after the great town fire of 1572, when a third of the town was reduced to ashes. Another local type is exemplified by the 18th-century typical narrow bell gable of Breestraat 17, which has only two bays⁸. There are still many buildings with 17th-century façades, some still with wooden lower fronts, though most of the buildings were remodeled in later centuries.

Until 1850, building activities in Heusden followed the general developments described in Chapter I (1.2). In the 18th century, very few houses were built and most façades were remodeled. Gables were replaced by cornices which were sometimes one story higher than before. These buildings did not undergo many changes in the 19th century, apart from the renovation of undivided windows and lower fronts. On the other hand, façades were sometimes remodeled in Neo-Gothic style and more square mansion-like types of four or five bays wide emerge. The Post Office (1893), is a 19th-century re-interpretation of the Brabatian Gothic with trefoiled decoration. Neo-Renaissance architecture is strikingly absent. As mentioned before, there are also some interesting examples of Jugendstil and Amsterdam School. After the war, Delft School rows of houses, the higher maisonette-type with garages below, and some apartment buildings emerged.
The main functions of buildings to be found along the streets are: dwellings, shops with dwellings above, warehouses, and town farms.

Apart from warehouses that were intentionally built as such, many dwellings on the point of collapse were, from the 20th century, used for storage. These were mainly dwellings built in the alleys and along the Demer Canal, Wijksestraat, and Ridderstraat. During the period of the restoration they lost their function as warehouses, since most industries and farming were relocated outside the historic center. Most of the former 17th and 19th-century barns and warehouses were turned into dwellings after the Second World War. Destroyed barns were not rebuilt but replaced by new dwellings. This change of function was due to the decreasing number of active town-farms and the need for good dwellings after the war. A single barn or warehouse was sometimes divided into two dwellings. Breestraat 10 was turned into a community center and the barn is now a lecture room.

During the restoration period, the shopping area became concentrated in the main street, Vismarkt and the streets connecting them. Shop windows which were enlarged at the beginning of this century to take larger panes of glass and later even undivided windows, were replaced by divided windows after 1965. Symmetry in the façades and the placing of the doors of shops and dwellings alike was often changed for the sake of more logical interior division. The front doors of Ridderstraat 5 and Breestraat 13 are now placed symmetrically in the middle. The appearance of the lower fronts of shops was often emphasized, as can be seen in the images of Botermarkt.

In general, alteration of scale (subdivision or annexation) does not seem to have been carried out on a large scale, at least not until the second half of the 19th century. A few larger houses were subdivided into two dwellings. However, annexation of adjacent premises did sometimes occur with shops that expanded. This can be seen at Vismarkt 14/12/12a, Drietrompetterstraat 15, Wijksestraat 34, 10, and Botermarkt 21. However, as discussed in Chapter IV, subdivision into front and back houses or into ground-floor apartment and upstairs apartments mostly took place during the recent restoration.

By applying very strict rules, a high degree of uniformity and standardization was created in the exterior. In general, large panes of glass were replaced by 2x3 or some smaller division. Only white mullions and glazing bars were allowed (rather than green), while doors, on the other hand, had to be painted green, and red brick and tiled roofs were the obligatory materials.

Changes in the façades

The changes which have occurred to the façades during the 20th century, and in particular during the period of the restoration are discussed here on the basis of the computer images.

- 17th century
Some interesting 17th-century Dutch gable types can still be found in Heusden; For example, the stepped gable of Vismarkt 1 (now a restaurant and hotel), the shaped gable of Hoogstraat 4, or the pilastered façade of Vismarkt 7 (both residential buildings again).

Stadshaven 24, which was demolished in the nineteen fifties, was not rebuilt during the restoration period, nor was the stepped gable of Vismarkt 7, despite the building's important location on the marketsquare near the harbor. The missing upper part of Breestraat 10 was rebuilt in order to improve the general aspect of the town but none of the vanished stepped and Dordtse gables (Engstraat and Putterstraat) were reconstructed.

The treatment of the lower fronts shows the diversity of approaches taken to restoration⁹. The 18th-century lower front of Vismarkt 1 was kept but accentuated with moldings above the windows and the front door. The lower fronts of Vismarkt 14 and Breestraat 13 were radically reconstructed to their original appearance with wooden penthouses and stained-glass windows. Though the undivided windows of Drietrompetterstraat 18 dating from the early 20th century are completely out of scale, they were not replaced by smaller ones, nor were the 19th-century H-shaped sash windows of Vismarkt 7 and Engstraat 6 and the Jugendstil windows of Engstraat 2.

Many 17th-century façades were remodeled in the 18th and 19th centuries. 18th-century elements such as 4x3+3 or 3x3+2 sash windows were usually respected or they were reconstructed while the overall dimensions did not change. Most 19th-century façades were kept or received mullioned windows (2x3). Engstraat 10 was more radically changed during the restoration period. Its façade is now more of a unity. The front door of the three-bay-wide lower front of Botermarkt 11 is no longer placed in the middle but now appears on the right side. In this way a more efficient interior disposition for the shop was created. Façades with different kinds of windows (Vismarkt 16, Engstraat 8) were given the same kind of window in order to restore the unity of the front.

- 18th century
18th-century gables mainly comprise simple bell gables and truncated scrolled gables. It is striking that, apart from some replacements of 19th century T-shaped windows by late 18th-century sash windows (2x3), few changes took place in the façades. The many relatively simple cornice-façades, which are sometimes in brick and sometimes embossed¹⁰, have almost all been retained intact. The T-shaped windows dating from the end of the 19th century of a rather large mansion (built in 1760) (Wijksestraat 38) were replaced by the original 18th-century sash windows, while the front door (from 1845) was left as it was. It turned out that, even when the original (i.e., older) appearance of buildings was known, the existing façades were mostly preserved (Breestraat 25).

Unlisted buildings were changed more radically. An example of this is the bell gable of Drietrompetterstraat 15. Its situation next to the already restored Vismarkt 14 (with the same owner) probably explains the adaptation of its lower front. Another change in the townscape was caused by the restoration of Putterstraat 68, the upper part of whose front was painted red (colcothar). Some buildings were deplastered and a few buildings which had been destroyed in the war were rebuilt in approximately the same style. The more mansion-like cornice façades hardly underwent any exterior changes.

- 19th century
The listed buildings of the 19th century show a variety of types of architecture and functions, including warehouses, simple mansions and shops. Here again, with the exception of Vismarkt 4, all plastered façades were preserved. Only a few examples of Neo-Gothic architecture (Botermarkt 3) and façades with windows enclosed in architraves (Botermarkt 1,8) are listed. The special type of 19th-century windows with arched glazing bars in the upper parts (Vismarkt 2 and Wijksestraat 19) were partially replaced by a more current type of window, i.e. the sash window, divided into six lights.

Very few of the 19th-century unlisted warehouses have survived. Most of them were turned into one-family dwellings during the restoration (Drietrompetterstraat, Waterpoort, Ridderstraat and the Demer Canal). 19th-century buildings that had been destroyed in the Second World War were usually not rebuilt. Some were replaced during the reconstruction period by blocks of simple row houses¹¹. Other open terrain was not built upon until the restoration. Although many buildings kept their 19th-century appearance, with only windows being changed, there are also striking examples of demolition (Waterpoort 17; Wijksestraat 29/29a). A real transformation in the rhythm of the street wall was caused by the dormers on 18th and 19th-century houses which were mostly built in the restoration period. New bedrooms were constructed in lofts which had to be lighted with dormers or skylights.

Due to increasing industrialization in the second half of the 19th century, many simple workmen's dwellings were built in Putterstraat and alleys. It was mainly these dwellings that were on the point of collapse in 1955 and were listed for demolition. They often formed a group of 3 to 5 repeated dwellings, with a very small ground floor and a bedroom in the loft. The workmen's dwellings in fact established a new minimum scale in Heusden since they were at least one floor lower than the average building, and some were only two bays wide.

Evaluation

Façades from the 17th century with relatively rich decoration were most radically restored to their original appearance, whereas 18th-century buildings were surprisingly little changed during the restoration period. Late 18th-century windows often replaced the larger undivided late 19th and early 20th century windows. Many simple workmen's dwellings were constructed in the 19th century but a number of mansions were also built. Some of these mansions were demolished during the restoration period but many of the more simple dwellings kept their features except for the windows, which were usually replaced by crosswindows or 2x3 windows. Although most of the 19th and early 20th-century H-shaped or undivided windows were replaced with divided ones, it certainly cannot be said that we see the complete disappearance of the 19th century¹³. There are still many interesting 19th century façades to admire, such as the Neo-Gothic façades and the many others with rustication, stucco window framing, and windows with rounded tops. In general, it appears that listed buildings, in particular those from the 17th century, were more radically restored than non-listed buildings.

The façade series help us to make these slight similarities and differences visible and directly available for consultation. In this way, the research results and the method are also verifiable by others.

5.3 The Morphology of Heusden's Townscape

Urban morphology was defined in Chapter I as the three-dimensional structure or basic urban structure recorded in the plan, from which one can read off the built-up and unbuilt-up areas, roads, streets, bridges, the course of rivers and canals, public gardens, blocks and squares; and, in addition, one can also see clearly the building masses. Some aspects of these matters have already been touched upon in previous chapters. In order to be able to deal with the urban structure in more detail, the elements which make up the town of Heusden needed to be investigated and analyzed. This involved the examination of the lay-out of the streets, the types of squares, and the dimensions of the buildings. In addition, the relationship between the urban elements and the underlying urban structure are discussed. This analysis was based on the study of town plans as described in Chapter III and on the street walls and three-dimensional computer models.

Lay-out

As discussed in Chapter III, the geographical situation is fundamental for the form and formation of a town. The main street (Breestraat, Botermarkt and Hoogstraat) was laid out at right angles to the Meuse River. The map by Jacob van Deventer demonstrates that the town was strongly oriented towards the Meuse River and the the main street used to be the connecting road between north and south with the Veer Poort as the entrance to the town. In Heusden, the allocation in lots was probably based on the geographical situation since the old houses were all built with the same orientation.

The main street and Putterstraat have been laid out as rather wide, parallel streets, whereas the alleys, which were built later, are narrow. Due to the wide main streets, the presence of some public places, the vicinity of the green fortifications and the relatively low houses, the town is open in character. Owing to the frequent occurrence of town fires, strict regulations were issued with respect to the use of material (wood, stone, roofing, etc.) and the distances between buildings. The east-side of Vismarkt shows the houses as detached buildings with narrow eavesdrops between them for the drainage of water¹⁴. Three alleys connect Vismarkt with Botermarkt. The properties along these alleys and side-streets were fenced off by means of brick walls.

Meischke distinguishes two different types of urban layout¹⁶.

A change in the practice of parceling out in the 19th century was characterized by two tendencies. First of all, the land was parceled out in larger plots for public buildings (Post Office, schools), industries, large shops, etc. Secondly, the new workmen's houses constituted a much smaller type of dwelling, usually joint single-story houses. This can be seen, for example, in the images of the 19th-century façades.

An investigation map of the sewer-system was drawn up in 1916 by the town architect, J. Boeren¹⁷. This map explains a lot of Heusden's system of parceling out in the past. Old open sewers had usually been installed at the lowest point of the terrain. Because in Heusden the streets and the fronts of the houses are on a higher level than the backyards, the gutters ran into a central drain that intersected the backyards of the town blocks. Peetoom tells us: `In view of the fact that drainage of water is not allowed across the land of other persons, the gutters also formed the boundaries of the land property behind the houses... Because changes in the buildings would also cause interference with the drainage system, the buildings have been preserved to a great extent by the network of drains'¹⁸. So, the system of water control and drainage kept the premises within strict boundaries and determined the width of the façades.

The town blocks are mostly rectangular and rather large. The buildings, which range with the street, occupy only a small part of the total area. The areas within the blocks were probably used for growing vegetables in times of war (if we are to believe Blaeu's map) and later as gardens. As mentioned in the previous chapter, in the 19th and 20th centuries the area within the blocks became increasingly occupied by light industries and out-buildings. As a result of the implementation of the Development Plan, most of the out-buildings within the blocks were cleared during the last two decades. The land was then re-allocated in such a way that most of the houses were provided with gardens again. Some space was reserved for public use and parking. Scattered over the town, small groups of garages were built. Some of them were constructed in the same brick style as the houses, and even given hipped roofs.

There is no central square in Heusden. Botermarkt is a street widened to make a market place¹⁹. The other market place, which is still used as such, Vismarkt, is probably the result of the sluice being built over²⁰. A third open area is Burchtterrein where the former castle used to be. This open place probably used to form the entrance to the castle, as seen on Van Deventer's map and Blaeu's map.

The urban structure became denser in the late Middle Ages when many buildings were extended, often by making use of the neighbor's wall. There was a slow process of insertion of buildings, repair, and renovation. Eavesdrops were often overbuilt or appropriated by one of the houses. This can still be seen from a number of lopsided roofs, from the roof constructions, and sometimes from a-symmetric façades. In later centuries, alleys were also sometimes overbuilt or filled in (Breestraat, Synagogestraat). The slow process of industrialization at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries led to the building of many small industrial buildings inside the town blocks and at the north entrances of town near the Meuse River (shipyard and cannery). As mentioned before, during the reconstruction period the urban structure became denser, with new buildings being constructed on Burchtterrein and along the Demer Canal and the Wiel. Gaps in the street walls were filled in with buildings in contemporary style. Destroyed houses were not reconstructed in their old form. During the restoration first inserted dwellings filled the gaps in the street walls, and later rows of social housing were built at the east of the town. In the nineteen nineties, even low apartment buildings emerged on the last patches of unbuilt-up land.

Areas of different character

The changing area around the Town Hall can easily be followed in the various periods of the models. The gap left after its destruction in 1944 and the construction of the new Town Hall (1956) constituted an important structural change at the very heart of the town. The old Town Hall had literally been the center of the town, and seen from the Veer Poort its tower used to be a focal point. The new Town Hall is much lower than its predecessor and of a more horizontal character and does not harmonize at all with its context. Only part of the building is visible from the same vantage point, providing a less interesting town view than before 1944. As a typical Town Hall of the reconstruction period, a corner square was created leading to a different use of space and opening up the town block. There was, in fact, no functional reason for the square in front of the Town Hall since Breestraat and Botermarkt in particular are very wide streets, fit for many public activities.

View to the Town Hall in 1943.
View to the Town Hall in 1990.

Other significant changes are shown in the development of the Town Harbor. The Town Harbor was still intact in 1900, while the 1943 model shows the new Wilhelminapark as a kind of public place. The three-dimensional models of Vismarkt and Town Harbor in 1943 show the impact on the townscape after the harbor was turned into public gardens. The houses around the harbor which had had an intimate relationship with the harbor and its ships now seemed less majestic along the flat public gardens. In addition, the Rates House which used to close the fourth wall of Vismarkt was demolished in 1904, allowing the Vismarkt square to merge undisturbed into the Wilhelminapark . Vismarkt was no longer a closed square. At the beginning of this century, the houses on the east side of Vismarkt were, with a few exceptions, restored or changed into the current fashion. The windows became bigger, new and slightly higher houses replaced others. When, during the restoration period, the Rates House was reconstructed in a different form, the square regained most of its intimate character, except that the building at the corner of Vismarkt and Nieuwstraat was not rebuilt. The Due to the lower water level of the Meuse River, the water level in the Town Harbor is also much lower. The aspect of the Town Harbor and yaghts now is much different from how it used to look before 1904.

The metamorphosis of Ridderstraat from a street full of dilapidated warehouses to a street lined with rows of simple rows of single family houses is a striking example of intensification of building as prescribed by the 1965 Development Plan. The Demer Canal, which in 1965 used to be a deserted waterway lined with dilapidated warehouses, now forms a modest but interesting green area with rehabilitated houses and some new ones in adapted style.

Theme map showing area's of different character.

Even in a town as small as Heusden one finds areas distinct in character. We can distinguish the following:
1. Botermarkt, Hoogstraat, Waterpoort, Engstraat and Vismarkt, are characterized by relatively high, narrow, deep plots. The shopping area is situated in these streets as well as the tourist zone, with souvenirshops, workshops and cafés.
2. Putterstraat is a typical back street with various kinds of buildings, mostly residential, which are usually lower in height than buildings in the main street. There are as many deep buildings as transversal ones and consequently the width of the plots varies.
3. The area near the former castle, Burchtterrein, is marked by open rows of houses from the reconstruction period which have no relation to the former urban texture.
4. The complete fortifications and the waterfront in particular (Town Harbor, marina) is a recreation area²¹. The consolidated castle ruins, the Baroque garden of the Governor's House and the area near the Catharijne Church are also part of the recreation area.
5. The area south-east of the Demer Canal is characterized by urban renewal social housing dating mainly from the second restoration period, with low rows of houses in adapted style and light red brick.

In the three-dimensional models the different characteristics of these areas become visible but not convincingly from a distance. In order to make the computer images better understandable, the above-mentioned areas have been given different colors, thus linking up with thematic cartography as we saw in the visualization of the Development Plan in Chapter II. A theme-map is in fact very close to the function maps attached to the Development Plan. The function maps consist of a ground plan in which different functions, distribution of elements, etc. are indicated per map. Whenever possible, this traditional way of two-dimensional representation should be followed. This is an example of where the use of computer does not necessarily add a special quality or affect the results. However, when the theme-maps are displayed in three-dimensions they can add the third dimension since the indicated objects can be seen in projection in their surroundings (cf. a wooden model with lights which can be switched on). This makes them easier to compare.

Another problem arose with the description of the morphology of the town block. We had decided at the beginning of this project not to visualize the houses within the town blocks, because neither Jantzen (1943) nor Peetoom (1965) went further, at least in their drawings, than the interpretation of the street walls. This was also true of the instruments of the protected townscapes. However, from what we saw in Chapter IV, Peetoom did indeed consider the interior of the building blocks. The re-allocation of the gardens, the subtle location of the garages, and the fencing-off of properties by low brick walls bear witness to that (Figures 130 and 138). Since this information is lacking in our computer models, the morphology can only be described in general terms. For a more detailed analysis these spatial elements should be considered in following projects. Essentially the same difficulty occurred with respect to our decision not to visualize the relief of the land. Despite the fact that in this project our attention was mainly concentrated on the changes and continuities of the plan, the volumes and the façade detailing, it appeared in the course of the project that the relief was very important. Although The Netherlands do not have much relief, the small differences in height, caused by the rivers, sewers, drainage channels, dikes, and fortifications turn out to be fundamental in determining the way changes occur.

The color distinction of the brick (grey) and the plastered or painted houses (white) in the computer images was useful in allowing detection of the extent to which façades had been deplastered. It was also very effective in simulating a dynamic view of the street walls. At the same time, the computerized façades preserved their abstract nature, which allowed us to compare them at the same level of detail. Being able to order and combine information can help the researcher tremendously. Increase or decrease of scale, the changing structure of the townscape, the distribution of urban elements, all can be clearly illustrated by means of these models seen from the same viewpoint. In fact, the models convey their own visual story of how the town changed through time.

Change of urban scale

The first real change of urban scale took place only after the Second World War. The rows of council housing near Burchtterrein from the reconstruction period meant a change in the typological scale of Heusden. Although the houses have traditional saddleback roofs, there is very little variation in the exterior: they are a repetition of rather functional dwelling units. These rows of houses impose their own form, independent of the existing urban form.

Some post-war apartment buildings (Pelsestraat 1-3, Drietrompetterstraat, Putterstraat, Molenstraat) introduced a scaling-up of the street walls. Because the apartment building on Pelsestraat is almost twice as high as the houses that used to be on that spot, the Catharijne Church is no longer visible from Putterstraat. The view is completely blocked by the new building. The rows of buildings at Drietrompetterstraat and Putterstraat are less obtrusive, but since they replace a series of individual houses, their repetitive character introduces a horizontal scaling-up of dimensions and more monotony. These apartment buildings generally followed the existing alignment, except for the building in Molenstraat which was set back from the street. The apartment building in Molenstraat consists of maisonnettes with garages at ground-level and the living room on the second floor overlooking the fortifications and the Meuse River. At the end of the fifties, this type of apartment building was considered the ideal solution to increase the building density. If it had been realized, the Redevelopment Plan (1961) (Figures 41 and 42) would have meant scaling-up and a serious break with the existing urban structure, since it envisaged surrounding the town by this kind of high-rise building. The inner town would then have had three major barriers: the town would have been surrounded first of all by water, secondly by the reconstructed fortifications, and thirdly by the ring of highrise blocks and rows on the outskirts of town overlooking the fortifications.

The 1965 Development Plan proposed the opposite of the redevelopment policy: repairing and improving the urban fabric. But the building typology based on the Development Plan also meant a discontinuity of the building process, because it proposed an artificial scaling-down. The scale was deliberately kept small, sometimes, in fact, smaller than the minimum according to the regulations. The effects therefore contrasted strongly with current standards.

Peetoom's inserted dwellings may be seen as an example of making use of existing local typologies. They are simple, single-story houses with a living room and a kitchen downstairs, and two small bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Peetoom designed ten different types of these inserted dwellings, whose dimensions were further adapted to the location. As a building type they follow the 19th-century workmen's houses (as can be seen on many turn of the century postcards) rather than any other (older) existing type in Heusden. The effect of these inserted dwellings (about fifty of them) was to scale down the town. Other community project dwellings were built chiefly in the 1980's by the local Housing Associations and are mostly located in the area south-east of Putterstraat and Ridderstraat. These have the same scale and proportions as the inserted dwellings. Their scale and dimensions were thought to be more appropriate into the secondary streets than those of the higher 18th-century houses in Breestraat. Only one of Peetoom's ten types of inserted dwellings had a ground floor and two floors above, and this type was indeed inserted in Breestraat where the houses are higher.

The complete restoration was in fact a planning intervention on as grand a scale as the implementation of the Redevelopment Plan would have been. The difference was the form in which it was carried out - adapted style architecture, tending strongly towards old forms in brick from the 17th and 18th century. The advantage was that the accumulated knowledge of the complete area enabled the architect, Peetoom, to take many aspects into consideration and react to each specific area appropriately. The disadvantage was that it perhaps created too much unity, and sometimes distroyed the chronological progression, since genuine contemporary design is absent. However, the changes that actually took place in Heusden were not large changes, but rather many subtle modifications in the urban structure (the exceptions being the restoration of the fortifications and the Town Harbor, the reconstruction of town gates, and towers). It is the subtle modifications, however, that to a great extent have determined the present appearance of the townscape. Detailed knowledge of its history in the widest sense, in particular the spatial form and function of the existing city, can apparently lead to a reinterpretation of this history in future designs for the city.

5.4 The Dynamics of Urban Transformation

In Chapter III, we traced the development of the urban structure of Heusden from its foundation until the beginning of this century by means of cartographic research. At all times, the ground plan and the city's physical geographical structure served as the starting points for the analysis of the urban structure²². In Chapter IV, which zoomed in on developments in the 20th century, the evidence used to trace the transformation over time consisted of the analysis of the plan, the volumes and the detailing of the façades. In addition, the effects of local government decisions, building regulations, and restorations (considered both chronologically and by architect) were surveyed. The effects of local government decisions on the appearance of the townscape were examined in more detail in previous sections by focusing on the classification of the buildings and on the elements and morphology of the town.

Nevertheless, certain questions remain to be answered. In the following paragraphs we shall try to trace the process of change and continuity in Heusden by reading the three-dimensional computer models which represent the development over time supplemented by older maps. The question of what image the town wanted to propagate at different periods of time and how this was reflected in the appearance of the townscape will be assessed. The town's own history and the dynamics represented in the built and unbuilt plans will also be considered.

Continuities

So far, we have mainly dealt with changes and discontinuities in Heusden. These are always more easily discernable than those things which remain unchanged and have a more permanent character. Despite many wars, raids, fires, etc., some areas or structures remained relatively undisturbed and apparently resistant to intervention.

- Geographical situation
In general, it is believed that the geographical situation of a town changes only gradually²³. However, from the old maps of the river area near Heusden, it appears that the area, on the contrary, has been very flexible in form. The many diversions caused by natural inundations over many centuries (for example, `St. Elisabeth's Food' of 1491) as well as deliberate changes (the cutting of the meanders in the Meuse River in 1479 and later) prove this. In fact, during the 20th century, the town came to be situated further and further from the river. First, when the new estuary was dug, the Town Harbor was filled in in 1904; and the land around the town silted up, creating a greater distance between the town and the water. In this period (1904-1965), the town seemed to turn away from the water, directing its focus more inward to its own center. As soon as the fortifications near the waterfront were restored and the Town Harbor re-excavated, the town regained some of its open character, once more oriented towards the water. But now, the new marina and the three fingers of land have screened the town off more from the river.

- Fortifications
Over the centuries, Heusden's fortifications have not only withstood many attacks by armies but also, more recently, the onslaughts of bulldozers. After the official dismantling in 1816 and the final departure of the garrison in 1879, the fortifications were no longer maintained. However, though without a defensive function, they survived, mainly as agricultural land, virtually intact. The geographical distance between the built-up area within the fortifications and the countryside beyond thus remained. It was mere lack of money that prevented drastic building activities. The many attempts between 1932 and 1965 to get permission to level the fortifications were not approved by the government.

Until 1904, the fortifications and the Town Harbor provided the enclosure on the waterfront. From 1904 to 1972, Putterstraat and Waterpoort were dead-end streets, without no focal point at the ends other than for a few trees on the leveled fortifications. There were no clear boundaries near the waterfront. After 1972, the new harbor and the reconstructed platform once more enclosed the town, and the town gates and the Veer Poort became landmarks again at the entrances to the town.

- General urban street pattern and structure
The most striking continuity in the town is the complete stabilization of the urban street pattern and structure since the construction of the second bastioned fortifications in 1613. Even the older lay-out as seen in Van Deventer's map (c.1560) can still be easily distinguished. In later centuries, there were hardly any changes until after the Second World War when Burchtterrein was partly built upon. The laying down of a new street connecting the Oudheusdense Poort with the Demer Canal during the restoration was the only serious cut in the existing texture. Further, the Demer Canal was partly restored in 1922, only to silt up again and be re-excavated and completed during the last phase of the restoration period. But these were only small changes in the urban structure. What is remarkable is that the medieval town plan still survives, regulations about alignment, building heights, and width of the façades having been followed to a modest degree.

- Burchtterrein
It is striking that the area near the former castle has never been built upon since the destruction of the castle itself in 1680. Though the ruins of the castle were only cleared away in 1824, and only one tower continued to be used as a place for storing gunpowder, the area was never built upon. Since the area was probably military property, it is possible that, for a long time, no building on the terrain was allowed. To judge from some old postcards, the terrain was at times used for military exercises. It seems that this area has always resisted being built upon. This is also shown by the failure of the Reconstruction Plans.

- Boundaries of premises
As was mentioned above, the system of drainage determined, to a great extent and for a very long time, the boundaries of properties and the width of the façades.

- System of pathways through the town
Also relevant to the boundaries of premises are the informal or private pathways through the town. These can be seen on the map by Blaeu. The wider eavesdrops at Vismarkt, for example, are turned into small alleys connecting Vismarkt with Botermarkt. There were also pathways leading from the major streets to the fortifications and the sorties, the escape routes under the walls of the fortifications. Maps show that this system has stayed virtually intact despite the delapidation of the fortifications and new buildings inside the town blocks. During the restoration period, the clear boundaries between premises were restored by building 1.8-meters-high-walls. Many pathways now connect streets with the backyards of the houses, forming again a semi-private route.

Town block Vismarkt, Engstraat and Botermarkt in 1900, 1965 and 1990.

The image of the town of Heusden

After the discussion of the previous paragraph, we can now consider the question of what image the town wanted to present at different periods and how this was reflected in the appearance of the townscape.

The loss of its function as a garrison town and the absence of any economic prosperity in the 19th and early 20th centuries were the reasons that Heusden no longer possessed any real identity until after the Second World War. The town was still living on its past fame as an invincible fortress town, as described by Van Oudenhoven²⁴. This historical awareness was only translated into policy in 1964, after the idea of making Heusden a modern town was abandoned. The only way to make the town attractive again was to reinforce the visual qualities of the old fortified town, which were at that time hidden.

The establishment of the self-image of the town, proposed in the Development Plan, was the first evidence of historical reference to the memory of Heusden's glorious past. In this light, it is not surprising that cartographic maps by Van Deventer, Boxhorn and Blaeu in particular, as well as some 17th and 18th-century views of Heusden, were often referred to.

Although Peetoom surveyed the complete town, carried out historical research, used available maps, and restored the town to the best of his knowledge, the impression remains that the visual material available at the time was very important for the way the town looks now. Forms that once existed at a certain place have in several cases returned. Which form returned, however, apparently depended on what visual material was available. In the first place, traces found in the building itself, and maps, photos, written descriptions, etc., but also events from the past and the memories of the inhabitants. The computer images of the street walls show that the collection of photographs taken around the turn of the century were used to a great extent during the restoration period²⁵. At the time when some buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries were demolished because they were considered incongruous, many of the simpler houses were restored on the basis of these photographs. Both the available visual sources and the collective memory of the town appear to have been important. Rather than inventing new forms, the architectural forms were borrowed from what was known of its past. In this sense, the inserted dwellings reveal something of the memory of the place in abstract form and in their reinterpretation of the scale and dimensions of existing local building types. The thread of the town's own history with forms from the past was picked up again and reinforced. However, Peetoom could not have based his types on Blaeu's map, since, as we saw in Chapter III, Blaeu had used a functional abstraction in representing the façades which was far too coarse to allow any detailed information to be derived from it. We may speak here, rather, of an intuitive pragmatic approach to the urban structure by Peetoom. Rather than carry out a rational abstraction, as most of his contemporaries would have done, Peetoom choose the more modest, contextual treatment of implicit types, thus linking up with the traditional building trade.

The Dutch situation was therefore unlike Fortier's bibliothèque des projets and one can rather speak of a pragmatic application of conventional local types²⁶. As mentioned before, there are very few real monumental buildings in The Netherlands which show a strong influence of authority. Unlike the imaginary projects of Paris, which are of a different scale and order, in Heusden, forms from the past were taken as an opportunity to reinterpret in a pragmatic way. In this sense, the individual façades forming the street walls have in fact been the texture library of the research project.

>From a distance, as in the 17th and 18th century view on the town, the skyline is now characterized by the spires (Roman Catholic Church, Town Hall, Catharijne Church) and by the buildings gradually decreasing in height from the center towards the fortifications, with accents at the end of streets (gates, towers). However, more than those spires and towers, Lynch's way of path finding via landmarks is nowadays taken over by the cranes near the shipyard, which, being higher than any other building in the neighborhood, indicate where the town of Heusden can be found. Since the fortifications were reconstructed 1.5 meters lower than they used to be, and the houses are nowadays higher than they were in the 17th century, much more of the roofs can be seen from a distance than the map by Matham (1625), for example, shows us.

View of Heusden by Th. Matham, Atlas van Stolk, Rotterdam 1925.

Computer image, comparison with Matham's view.

The aesthetic qualities of the almost symmetrically laid out fortifications can only be seen from the air. Just as Naarden's fortifications were restored as a historical example of the New-Dutch Fortification System (Menno van Coehoorn) showing the intimacy and compact character of a Dutch town²⁷, so represent the restored fortifications of Heusden the historical example of the Old-Dutch Fortification System.

An artist's impression made in 1974 still sells very well at the local tourist information center. The map appears strongly influenced by Blaeu. Although the spatial form of the town has been represented relatively accurately, many individual houses appear even more standardized than in Blaeu's map. In addition, the Catharijne Church is felt to be complete again. The self image which the local government wanted to propagate can be read in this kind of town plans. The 1974 plan in particular does not show a living urban community, but a rather a dull, sleeping, still agricultural town where the buildings are much more picturesque and less urban in scale and character than they are in reality.

The idea of the city, its alternative possibilities as in Rossi's analogous city, can be compared with Heusden as a 17th century regional center, where merchants and ships came and went, and strong fortifications protect the inhabitants against raids. The town was unable to regain its fortress function in the 20th century, so the only alternative was sought in the rudimentary present qualities which were turned into opportunities: the structure of the town and its scenic collage of styles, and tourism would be exploited for recreation and watersports. The intention was never really to bring back the past in Heusden, which would be impossible anyway, since we would experience it with our knowledge of today. It was rather to borrow forms from the past in order to improve the present and guarantee the continued existence of urban qualities. In this sense, the use of the map by Blaeu turned out to be an important political instrument for convincing the authorities of Heusden's potential. The restored image of the prosperous 17th or 18th century as seen in Blaeu's map created a new function for the town: tourism and watersports. Thus, a historic town became an attractive place to relax and escape from citylife. Baalman points out that there is an important market for historic towns: `reconstructions like Heusden or villages frozen in time like Orvelte function optimally during the holiday period. Their attraction is not due to the activities of daily life, but to the attractive decor they offer for holidays, rest and recreation'²⁸.

People tend to think more in images nowadays. They have developed a taste for fast-changing images which Virilio calls Dromology. But, this should not lead to a purely scenic architecture, as in Venturi's decorated shed architecture. In this sense, Van der Woud's strategic preservation of monuments of the image of the city by means of scenic and specialistic major monuments is therefore not a good starting point, since the scenic approach would destroy not only the documentary value of the underlying historical structure and of the buildings themselves, but also the continuity in time and regional variations. Panerai adds to this: Restoration should not lead to the establishment of museums, or pieces of tasteful Disneyland for the benefit of tourism; nor the systematic restoration of small houses in their original state, because it would be against the logic of domestic types of urban building in which the lower front functions relatively independently from the rest of the façade²⁹.

The fact that exploitation of the architecture of the past can be a lucrative business also becomes clear from the almost finished Huis ten Bosch, a newly built Dutch Town in Japan³⁰. While in Heusden the return of the three replica postmills near the waterfront and the re-excavation of the Town Harbor were the object of much criticism, the Japanese have no trouble in embellishing their invented Dutch town with replicas of the replicas of Heusden's postmills. In Japan they even prove that it is actually possible to re-create an imaginary Dutch town in which the fronts, in the style of Heusden after its restoration, have no relation at all with the interior. The statement that the scenic image of the city is the one-dimensional implementation of the protected townscape can well be applied to this scenic Dutch architecture as executed in Japan, however, it cannot be applied to Heusden³¹. The image in Heusden was to a certain extent aimed at the improvement of the townscape as a whole but it was also based on historical visual evidence, using its own history and form.

Although the replacement of the old Town Hall by a new one with a public square on its site meant a severe structural change at the very heart of the town, it proved that the former Town Hall was not solely responsible for the identity of Heusden. A sudden disaster such as the destruction of this former structurally and visually important monument shows that indeed the basic street structure and the material of the town, i.e. the many small buildings, are more important than a single monument. A town can apparently deal with the loss of even important monuments in a flexible way. New forms can emerge without destroying the soul of the town - its street pattern and structure. An imaginary example is the town of Makor, as described by James Michener³². Each time the town of Makor was destroyed againfromon its ruins emerged other cities or histories built on top of each other, each town higher than its predecessor. People, conventions, religions, and circumstances may change but each different period builds on its predecessor, handing over fragments from the past to be used as a source for future design.

5.5 Conclusion

The typology which allowed us to make various combinations with the texture maps of the façades showed that most listed 17th-century buildings were radicaly restored to their former appearances, whereas most 18th-century and a great part of 19th-century façades were not radically changed. In general, buildings received late 18th-century mullioned windows. In order to detect this kind of pattern, time-series appear very useful and are also verifiable by others.

The morphological changes were studied by means of analysis of the elements of the urban structure in the computer models. It appeared that areas different in character could be distinguished, which were treated as such, at least by Peetoom, during the restoration period. Increase in the density of the urban structure occurred with consideration for each specific location. The many small changes in relatively short periods of time in the 20th century have to some extent led to a metamorphosis of the town, caused not least by the new accents at the ends of streets. The visualization of the morphology in the three-dimensional models was very useful in analyzing the silhouette of the town and, close-up, the changes at specific areas in the town. But the models do not make clear what changed between each phase. One solution is to emphasize the changed element per image by using different colors. In this way, the computer images can themselves show the development.

In the final section the dynamic currents of the town and its image were explored. As always, the development continues by fits and starts, but in some places, such as Heusden, this means many events in a relatively short period (c.1700 and after 1944) alternating with long periods of no change at all.

The other city of Heusden, the Redevelopment Plan, is still invisibly present in Heusden, as an argument and excuse for the costly restoration. Now that the structure of the town has been repaired, maybe some well-designed contemporary buildings will emerge.

Notes:

1. Meischke & Zantkuijl 1969.

2. Dolfin et al. 1989, xxiv-xxv.

3. Unfortunately not the exact dates of the buildings were mentioned, but by spaces of time of 25 years. To provide a much more accurate list of dates was out of the scope of this study.

4. Kool-Blokland mentions the fact that even the (former) elite in Heusden rather invested their money in premises and real estate than in luxury and decoration of their houses. Kool-Blokland 1985.

5. An arrangement of the facades of 2-2-1 means: a house consisting of two bays. The ground floor probably consists of one door and one window, there is one storey above the ground floor with two windows and one storey or loft with one window. The other arrangements can be interpreted in the same way. Van der Vaart 1985, 2.

6. H. Janse carried out building construction analysis of buildings in Heusden in the nineteen seventies. The results were never published but can be found at the Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg, Zeist. Janse 1986.

7. A Dordtse gable is a local type of gable named after the town of Dordrecht. Characteristic features are the projecting courses on the first and second floors, often on sculptured headers, and basket handle arches above the windows. Temminck Groll (1963, 73) mentions the fact that the Dordtse gable of Putterstraat 1a, built in 1521, is even older than any Dordtse gable surviving in Dordrecht itself.

8. Van der Vaart 1985.

9. CF. Apell 1988.

10. In Dutch: Gebosseerde gevels.

11. See also Chapter IV, 4.3.

12. Perhaps the "Monumenten Inventarisatie Project" (MIP), a project which is investigating the historic buildings of 1850-1940, may change this.

13. De Boer 1984, 19.

14. Meischke 1988B, 208-253.

15. Meischke 1990.

16. Meischke 1990, 9-20.

17. See, Appendix I.

18. Peetoom 1980, 24.

19. Ben de Vries 1990, 50, calls this type of public place a "street market-place" (straatplein) characteristic for some castle-towns with a planned urban lay-out.

20. I do not agree with Ben De Vries 1990, who argues that the Fishmarket is also a widened street.

21. When many of the fortifications were dismantled in the nineteenth century, they were generally neglected for a long time. From the nineteen twenties onward, a renewed interest in the preservation of former fortifications sprang up for recreational and tourism purposes. Cf. Schukking 1988.

22. Cf. Fortier's "archeologie inverse".

23. Cf. Braudel 1949.

24. Van Oudenhoven 1651.

25. See, for collections of postcards: Harry Poll 1969, collection Chr. Lith, and collection Streekarchief.

26. Cf. Bandini 1984.

27. Mumford 1964, plate 49.

28. Baalman 1989, 29-32. In this sense De Jong distinguishes different kinds of "preservation of Monuments", one involves the "touristic alternative". De Jong 1992, 71-73.

29. Panerai 1981, 20.

30. Paul Meurs 1992.

31. Taverne 1989, 15.

32. James Michener, The Source, New York 1965.