‘In zo goede order als in eenige stad in Holland’. Het stedelijk bouwbedrijf in Holland in de achttiende eeuw

Abstract

In general, the eighteenth century in Holland is regarded as a period of decline after the great prosperity and affluence of the preceding century. As a result of this decline, the number of public works in towns in Holland decreased and the urban building companies concentrated on maintenance of the existing structures. This thesis concerns the development within the organization of the urban building companies of Haarlem, Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda, Rotterdam en Schiedam during this period against de background of several important architectural, infrastructural and urban building programs. In the course of the eighteenth century many of the towns in Holland were faced with increasing financial deficits. The direct relation between public funds and public works, which made up twenty to thirty per cent of the total expenditure, made interventions in the building companies necessary. The high costs and often qualitatively poor execution of public works caused the town administrations to distrust the officials involved. Several towns carried out reorganizations, in which the urban building company was sometimes closed down completely. Besides, new procedures and bureaucratic measures were prescribed in order to get more grip on the building company, and thus on town expenses. Open tendering of maintenance work to private bosses was expected to be very advantageous. The reforms mentioned were not exclusively aimed at saving expenses, but also at the improvement in the execution of the work. However, in general the interventions seem to have had the opposite effect. This was partially related to the lack of knowledge of the town administrations concerning the building trade in general and their own building company in particular, but also with active and/or passive opposition by their own building masters. These officials were responsible for the execution of the new measurements and their commitment was crucial for their success. Thus, the occasional success depended more on the individual dedication of competent administrators or officials than on the newly conceived form(s) of organization. It proved difficult for the town councils to find trustworthy officials who could both give direction to the building company and give independent advise concerning the public works and building organization. In the Dutch Republic no formal training for the building trade was organized of regulated by the governments. Only the (small) group of army engineers received some kind of formal training, which was – however only for a short period – tested on entering the corps. Public building proved therefore to be very susceptible to fraud. Although the towns had their own officials within the building companies who were responsible for all council advise concerning the public works, the councils usually consulted for important or exceptional works other, more qualified advisers and experts from outside. In the assessment of the advice given by the various architectural specialist advisers, it turns out that the town councils however did not recognize a hierarchy of experts in advance. Instead, their own judgment was deemed just as important.