In 1915, Dudok moved to Hilversum to accept the post of public works manager. He designed schools, apartment houses and public buildings like this police station:
Photo by Richard K-NL @ Flickr
Dudok’s style gradually changed. His early works grew out of the Amsterdam School but by the time he became city architect of Hilversum (1928) he was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Chicago Prairie School as well as by the latest trends in Germany and France. This influence is clear in his design of Hilversum Raadhuis (City Hall), completed in 1931:
Photo by jan 1968 @ Flickr
Not only did he design the building, but also the interior including the carpets, furniture and even the mayor’s meeting hammer and silver clock:
Photo by jan 1968 @ Flickr
Dudok continued to produce modernist structures in Hilversum for decades. He designed new schools:
Through the 1960s, the architect created a number of impressive buildings outside Hilversum:
Insurance company, Arnhem
HAV Bank, Schiedam (jan 1968)
Witte Dorp (White Village, today Tuindorp), a neighborhood for Philips workers in Eindhoven
City Theatre in Utrecht
Insurance company building (today Cafe Dudok) in Rotterdam
Collège Néerlandais in the Cité Universitaire, Paris
Dudok gained international influence. He received the RIBA Gold Medal in 1935 and the AIA Gold Medal in 1955. He designed buildings far from home - a cultural centre in Baghdad, a cinema in Calcutta…
But one of his most important creation ceased to exist long ago.
Look at this aerial photograph to get the idea of 1930s Modernism, opposed to historic styles. The building is the Bijenkorf department store. Its interiors were spacious, with laconic decor:
This rationalist temple of Commerce was “crowned” by a massive lantern and Art Deco ornament. About two thirds of the building and its historic neighbors were destroyed by the Luftwaffe bombers on May 14, 1940. The remaining part, used as a warehouse, was demolished in 1960.
Jan Sluijter (his Flickr set is a must for everyone who’s interested in Dudok heritage) tried to imagine how Rotterdam would look today with Bijenkorf:
… and more than this, he performed a fusion of past and present:
steampunkd