Traditionalist architecture is an architectural movement in Europe since the beginning of the 20th century in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

et al. In the

Traditionalism was a reaction to the Neo Gothic and

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

styles by

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

( Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

1885, Centraal Station

1889). One of the first influential buildings of Traditionalism was the Beurs van Berlage in

, finished in 1903. Since the 1920s Traditionalist architecture has been a parallel movement to

Modern architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architectur ...

( Cubist, Constructivist and

Expressionist architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionism, expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Bri ...

). In Dutch architecture, the Traditionalist School was also a reaction against Functionalism as well as the Expressionism of the Amsterdam School, and meant a revival of rural and national architectural styles and traditions, with tidy, visible brickwork, minimal decoration and "honest" (that is, traditional and natural) materials. It occurred after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and at its center was, as it was called after 1945, the Delft School, led by Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, professor at the

Technical University An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

from 1924 until 1953. Traditionalism can be seen in many ways as a direct successor to Berlage-type

Rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

. It was highly influential on church design up after 1945, especially in Catholic architecture but gaining influence as well on Protestant architecture just before World War Two, especially on architects like Berend Tobia Boeyinga and Egbert Reitsma. During the reconstruction after the war, its influence on secular architecture reached a peak while its importance for church architecture slowly vanished.

Delft School Members

* Marinus Jan Granpré Molière * Cornelis Hubertus (Cees) de Bever * Gijsbert Friedhoff * Bernardus Joannes Koldewey * Kees van Moorsel

Others

* Alexander Kropholler * Alphons Boosten * Frits Peutz * Hendrik Willem Valk

Sources

Archimon
{{Revivals Architectural styles Dutch architectural styles 20th-century architectural styles