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

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Biography

Peutz was born in a Catholic family in Uithuizen in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, 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

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. In 1916 he changed to

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. In 1920, while still not graduated, he returned to Limburg to settle as an independent architect in the town of

Heerlen Heerlen (; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the f ...

, where the booming

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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 first son, Victor Peutz was born, who became audiologist and acoustician. Peutz and his wife Isabelle Tissen had thirteen children together. One of whom followed in his father's footsteps to get a degree in civil engineering and become an architect.

Work

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 the 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, and also due to Wiel Arets' – a contemporary Dutch architect also from Heerlen – many publications on Peutz produced in the past ten years. 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

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(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 *Villa Op de Linde, Heerlen, 1931 * Monseigneur Schrijnen Retreat House, Heerlen, 1932 * Glaspaleis (formerly: Schunck Fashionhouse), Heerlen, 1933 *Villa 't Sonnehuys,

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, 1933 * Royal Theater (Royal cinema), Heerlen, 1937 * Town hall of Heerlen, 1936–1942 *Town hall of Tegelen, 1938 *Kneepkens store, Heerlen, 1939 *Annakerk (church of St. Anne), Heerlen, 1951 * Vroom & Dreesmann store, Heerlen, 1958Historische foto's-Historical images of Heerlen – Parkstad1998
*Stadsschouwburg (Municipal Theatre), Heerlen, 1959 * Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, 1959 *Villa Broekhem 88, Valkenburg

Gallery

References

External links

Short biography and pictures of Peutz' buildingsMonseigneur Schrijnen Retreat House (in Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peutz, Frits 1896 births 1974 deaths Culture of Limburg (Netherlands) Delft University of Technology alumni Dutch architects Dutch ecclesiastical architects Dutch Roman Catholics People from Eemsmond People from Heerlen