Frits Peutz

Infobox Architect


caption=
name=F.P.J. Peutz
nationality=Dutch
birth_date=April 7, 1896
birth_place=Uithuizen
death_date=October 24, 1974
death_place=
practice_name=
significant_buildings=Town Hall of Heerlen, Glaspaleis, Monseigneur Schrijnen Retraitehuis
significant_projects=
awards=|

F.P.J. Peutz (April 7 1896 - October 24 1974) was a Dutch architect.

Peutz was born in a catholic family in Uithuizen in Groningen, a mostly Protestant province in the north of the Netherlands. In 1910 he was sent to the Rolduc boarding school in Kerkrade in the catholic province of Limburg for his higher education. In 1914 he graduated at the HBS, an old type of Dutch high school. After that he studied civil engineering in Delft. In 1916 he changed to architecture. In 1920, while still not graduated, he returned to Limburg to settles as an independent architect in the town of Heerlen, where the booming coal mining industry provided him with many assignments. Peutz played a major role in transforming Heerlen in a true, modern city. In 1925 he received his degree in architecture. Around 1926 his son Victor Peutz was born, who became audiologist en acoustician.

Peutz incorporated various historical styles in his work. He had a special affinity with the modern movement (such as Bauhaus in Germany), with his own distinct interpretation. There is a big contrast in style between his secular work and his much more traditional churches.

During his lifetime he had quite an international reputation. But because his work was done in and around Heerlen, a city that lost its status as an industrial centre in decades to come, he has been somewhat forgotten. But in recent years he is being rediscovered, exemplified by the proclamation of his Glaspaleis as one of the world's 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century. Peutz was also responsible for the adjacent Pancratiuskerk (for Monumentenzorg - 'Monument Care') and the juxtaposition between this old Romanesque church and the ultramodern department store is typical for his mixing of the old and the new.

The retreat house and the Glaspaleis are good examples of a new phase in his building style that he developed after entering a competition to design the Palais des Nations in Geneva (1926), this new style accumulated in the Town hall of Heerlen.

Important works

*Villa for the notary Wijnands, Heerlen, 1919
*Broederschool (primary school), Heerlen, 1921
*Villa "Casa Blanca", Houthem, 1929
*ULO-school (school building), Heerlen, 1931
*Huis Op de Linde (House 'Op de Linde'), Heerlen, 1931
*Monseigneur Laurentius Schrijnen Retraitehuis (Retreat House), Heerlen, 1932 [ [http://www.retraitehuis-peutz.nl/ Monseigneur Laurentius Schrijnenhuis Retraitehuis - Peutz ] ]
*Glaspaleis (Schunck Fashionhouse), Heerlen, 1933
*Royal Theater ("Royal" cinema), Heerlen, 1937
*Raadhuis Heerlen (Town Hall), Heerlen, 1936-1942
*"Kneepkens" store, Heerlen, 1939 [ [http://www.parkstad.com/loadbig/imbig239.html Historische foto's-Historical images of Heerlen - Parkstad1998 ] ]
*Annakerk (church of St. Anne), Heerlen, 1951
*"Vroom & Dreesmann" store, Heerlen, 1958 [ [http://www.parkstad.com/loadbig/imbig240.html Historische foto's-Historical images of Heerlen - Parkstad1998 ] ]
*Stadsschouwburg (Municipal Theatre), Heerlen, 1959

References

External links

* [http://www.archimon.nl/architects/fpjpeutz.html Short biography and pictures of Peutz' buildings]
* [http://www.retraitehuis-peutz.nl/ Monseigneur Schrijnen Retreat House (in Dutch)]
* [http://www.stadsarchiefheerlen.nl/publieksbereik/educatie/projecten/glaspaleis/index.htm Schunck Fashions' Building (the 'Glass Palace') (in Dutch)]

Gallery