'The Sanatorium in Trzebiechów. A Comparison and Analysis of the Interior Furnishings by Henry van der Velde in 1902 - 1904'
'If at that time I had known the Duchess Reuß, Wilhelm Ernest's father's sister, she would have warned me against making this hasty decision.' So wrote Henry van de Velde about Marie Alexandrine, Duchess Reuß - Köstritz (photo 2), the contracting party of the sanatorium in Trzebiechów, in his memoirs entitled 'Die Geschichte meines Lebens' ('The Story of My Life'). One can detect disillusionment with Weimar in these words. During World War I, as a foreigner, he had to leave the town financially ruined and slandered. He moved to Switzerland. He also lost his high opinion of his mandator's independence and social intelligence.
Henry van de Velde worked for the Duchess's nephew - Wilhelm Ertnest, who, as the Grand Duke, in 1901 began his reign in the Saxe - Weimar Duchy. The versatile Belgian drew the Duchess's attention with his avant - garde art and designs in the Secession style. In 1902 the Duchess, rather dissatisfied with the conventional historical forms of buildings proposed by the architect Max Schündler of Zwickau, finally asked Henry van de Velde to take over the design of the sanatorium's interior furnishings. Photo 3 portrays the artist in his workshop and with his family.
For van de Velde the design of the interiors of the sanatorium in Trzebiechów was the first private commission from a member of aristocracy. Earlier 'employers' derived from the wealthy bourgeoisie and lower nobility. Without a doubt, Trzebiechów was a great honour for an artist, who gained recognition among the conservative court circles.
How was it possible that at the beginning of the 20 th century in Germany ruled by Wilhelm the Emperor, a woman could commission such a large and costly project? And yet the preserved correspondence shows that the Duchess Reuß was not only the contracting party but also set the general guidelines for the project and made any final decisions. Was that something unusual for van de Velde? No, not at all! On the contrary, women seemed to intuit that his art is addressed to them and supported the artist financially throughout his life. In 1894 in Brussels, van de Velde received his first commission to design the interiors of a house. It came from Irma Sethe, his future mother - in - law. Photo 4 portrays the whole Sethe family in Brussels with Irma Sethe in the centre and Maria, van de Velde's future wife, in front.
An important role was also played by Elisabeth Förster - Nietzsche (photo 5), sister of the famous philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. In 1902 she brought van de Velde from Berlin to Weimar, placing the order for the interior design of the Nietzsche Archives. After World War I, Helene Kröller - Müller (photo 6), a well - known patron of the arts from the Netherlands, commissioned van de Velde to design the interiors of the museum in Otterlo, housing a significant collection of works by van Gogh. This order gave Henry the opportunity to present his artistic vision to the Dutch audience.
These are but three examples of women present in van de Velde's artistic career. From what we know, Trzebiechów was the only sanatorium designed and furnished by Henry van de Velde.
Let us examine this work of art.
Altogether the artist carried out over 300 commissions. From a minor single order, such as the dinner service for Wilhelm Ernest's, the Grand Duke's wedding (1903) to the huge architectural complex, like, for example, the 'Werkbund Theater' in Cologne in 1914 (both can be seen in photo 7).
In search of projects meant for health service that one could compare to Trzebiechów, the track leads us to Brussels, where in 1898 van de Velde designed the interiors of dr Clerghs's apartment and surgery. Photo 8 presents the room in which the doctor examined his patients.
Much later, namely in the early 1930s, in a small Flemish town of Asten, van de Velde designed a private house and a health clinic of dr Martens. However, these buildings, designed in the form of New Objectivity - modest in style of those times and covered with a flat roof (photo 9), hardly compare to the sanatorium in Trzebiechów!
The sanatorium (photo 10) presents typical architecture of the late historicism with a pragmatic rather than artistically demanding mixture of various styles representative of European Neo - Renaissance.
Van de Velde's task was to compose his modern style of interior designing into a rather conventional external architecture by Max Schündler.
Was the artist, known for such works of art as Villa Esche or Hohenhof in Hagen, challenged by the order? Or was it only a second-rate commission for him?
These questions can be answered more easily if one takes a look at the statistics of his works. Altogether, Henry van de Velde designed 48 new buildings. These were mainly private houses, which were created by him from A to Z as 'complete works of art.' The same pair of hands designed the building's interior and the exterior, the garden gate and the pillows on the sofa.
The most famous examples of the above are the four houses that he built for himself and the family: Bloemenwerf in Uccle near Brussels, Hohe Pappeln in Weimar, the prefabricated wooden structure De Tent in Wassenaar and De Tervuren again in Brussels.
More frequently than architectural commissions, however, he received ones that concerned the furnishing of apartments or houses.
His list of works includes over 100 interior designs realized mainly in countries where he lived, namely Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The list includes such magnificent works of art as the interior designs of the museums: Folkwang in Hagen and the Nietzsche Archives in Weimar (photo 11).
Both commissions were realized at approximately the same time as the sanatorium in Trzebiechów. In both, the furnishings were perfectly adapted to the historically conventional architecture of the exterior. Fascinated experts tend to overlook the fact. Unprejudiced, we tend to take delight in the Nietzsche Archives by Henry van de Velde.
As regards functionality and aesthetics, the sanatorium in Trzebiechów bears striking similarity to both Folkwang Museum and the Nietzsche Archives. This similarity is worth examining a little closer. In the first half of 1902 the so - called doctor's house in Trzebiechów (photo 12) was furnished as a health centre as well as private house for the head of the sanatorium, dr Oskar Müller. The upstairs housed surgeries, nurses' rooms, procedure rooms for physical methods of examination and treatment, an X-ray unit, a massage room and the head doctor's library.
Right behind the historical form of the entrance portal (photo 13) one enters a modern world of a Secession artist. The overriding impression is of being in Weimar. Even the large metalwork on the vestibule's door (photo 14) remind one of the Nietzsche Archives. Then, a small staircase leads one to the elegantly furnished entrance to the surgeries upstairs. Away from the staircase, the entrance door is built into a richly glazed translucent partition wall. There are strong reminders of the Nietzsche Archives in Weimar (photo 15). Both the characteristic brass metalwork and the cube - shaped lamp above the door are the marks of his style. Photo 16 presents the staircase in the doctor's house.
Both the upper floors, connected with a large corridor, served as the head doctor's private apartment. Today such architectural composition would be called maisonette. It was very rare around the year 1900 and virtually unknown as van de Velde's work.
According to van de Velde's letters, the narrow staircase with the characteristic straight handrail and the masterly arched landings should be wainscoted to two thirds of its height. Similarly to the Nietzsche Archives the wall should only be decorated with a modest pattern border. Today there is no wainscot on the staircase. However, the renovation work has uncovered grey pattern border in the upper part of the wall.
Why does 'the doctor's house' bear so many similarities to the Nietzsche Archives? Unfortunately, the Belgian's letters reveal no clues, so we must give it some thought. Both designs were made at approximately the same time, in the years 1901 - 1904. It may be the first clue, but obviously not a sufficient explanation.
The second clue comes from the architecture of the exterior. In both cases, the Nietzsche Archives and Trzebiechów, it is the slightly conventional, though widespread at that time, villa architecture of late historicism. Additionally, in both buildings a similar division into public and private floors was applied. Originally, both the Silberblick Villa of the Nietzsche Archives and 'the doctor's house' in Trzebiechów had a publicly accessible main floor situated on the high ground floor and a private area on the upper floor. In terms of function and aesthetics, the archive rooms in Weimar are compared to the procedure rooms in Trzebiechów.
One will not, however, find any formal similarities between the sanatorium in Trzebiechów and the Nietzsche Archives.
'The doctor's house' also shows resemblance to the interior design of the Folkwang museum in Hagen (photo 17). Van de Velde realized the commission in Hagen shortly before he went to work in Trzebiechów.
Proceeding upstairs along the staircase in 'the doctor's house' one arrives at another glazed entrance wall, which leads to the upper floor. This architectural element bears striking similarity to the side staircase in the Folkwang museum, which, unfortunately, was pulled down in the late 1970s. One can clearly see a strong resemblance in the historical picture. Flanking the central two-storey lobby (photo 18) were dr Müller's private rooms. From the ground floor one entered the dining room, the living room and the bedroom. The guestrooms and the kitchen were entered through the gallery. The architect and designer was perfectly aware of the hall's meaning. He himself integrated and equipped the central hall with a skylight in his own house Bloemenwerf in Uccle, in Villa Leuring in Scheveningenin in 1901 (photo 19) and in Villa Esche in Chemnitz in 1902/03 (photo 20). The corridor was the centre and the main communications route. It was the pivotal point of both private and social life. It was in the lobby on the first floor of 'the doctor's house' that a fireplace (photo 21) and a cosy fully - furnished corner (photo 22) were located. The floor was tiled and the walls were wainscoted. Van de Velde designed electric lamps for the main ceiling light and added small spotlights in the corners.
In the second half of 1903 van de Velde was busy designing the interiors and furniture for the building of the sanatorium (photo 23). The three - storey main building housed social rooms, a dining room and about 30 rooms for the patients.
As in the case of 'the doctor's house', the main entrance area (photo 24) was designed by the architect Max Schündler. Having proceeded through the vestibule, one encounters the furnishings designed by Henry van de Velde. They perfectly blend with the previously designed lay-out of the rooms and the already existing furnishings, giving the rather stiff and conventional architecture by Max Schündler its own finesse and a touch of elegance. To access the broad hall on the first floor, van de Velde decides - not only as an advocate of the Secession style - on elegant, broad spiral stairs complete with an expressive handrail. At first sight, the handrail's ornamentation and abstract line create the impression of being novel and unusual. When we take some time to examine it more carefully, we recognize van de Velde's hand, the same as we know from his textile and graphic designs. Photo 25 presents the famous poster advertising foodstuffs of the firm Tropon from Mühlheim an der Ruhr. In photo 26 (left) you can see the decorative 'Dahlia" materials.
As for the staircase, however, this type of ornamentation is highly unusual for van de Velde. As one may gather from van de Velde's letter of August 1903, the Reuß Duchess had a decisive say in choosing the motif. The artist himself would have preferred a more modest form. A quick glance at other staircases by van de Velde confirms this impression. The handrail in the lobby of the sanatorium in Trzebiechów clearly reminds the one in the main staircase of the Folkwang museum (photo 27). The same motif of the flight of stairs in the form of rhythmically repeating waves, which is a reflection of the handrail motif and accentuates the shape of the stairs (photo 28). This motif is nearly identical with that on the staircase of the Folkwang museum. From van de Velde's letter we learn that initially in Trzebiechów he also planned panelling made of stucco work or wood. Later on, however, the Reuß Duchess decided on a probably cheaper pattern painting. It is a formal similarity that can hardly be accidental. Being a public building, the museum can be a very pattern for the sanatorium, in which a lot of social rooms and other facilities were generously designed for the patients.
All the built - in wooden fixtures and furniture, as well as the three - storey stairs in the main building were made by the firm Scheidemantel from Weimar. The lighting, the grating with floral motifs and the lift door made of wrought iron were delivered by Otto Berger's court artistic ironworks from Berka near Weimar (photo 29). The lift itself was produced by a renowned firm August Kühnscherf & Sine. Naturally, the lift is no longer there today. The only known photograph of the original lift (photo 29 top right) unfortunately shows only a small fragment of the door's tympanum designed by van de Velde. One can imagine its overall appearance by comparing it to the wooden tympanum in the Reimer and Keller gallery in Berlin designed in 1895 (photo 30). In Trzebiechów the central ribbon motif should be facing up.
Perhaps the most beautiful room in the sanatorium is the big social room (photo 31) with the room for the ladies on the left and for the gentlemen on the right. Van de Velde divided it into two areas: the reading room in the front, with larger reading tables, extra smaller tables, numerous chairs as well as a few comfortable armchairs, and the back section, which was originally designed as a winter garden and separated from the reading room with a glazed iron structure. It is worth taking notice of the door handle in the glazed partition wall in the background. It boasts the same motif as the door handle in the door leading to the vestibule of the doctor's house.
In 1905 'Innerdekoration' magazine published photos of these beautiful rooms. Therefore, we are fortunate to be able to present historical photographs of the original furnishings. Let us examine them a little closer. In the photo we can see a large table in the centre, surrounded with chairs with interlaced plait seats. In his letter to the Duchess Henry van de Velde describes the chairs as made of red beech, making them reasonably priced and easy to clean. Chairs like these were fashionable at that time, especially in Flanders and the Netherlands. Van de Velde designed furniture like this also for the dining room in the Nietzsche Archives in Weimar (photo 32). Even today one can see there furniture made by the firm Scheidemantel.
In photo 33 one can see two comfortable armchairs. It was van de Velde's favourite piece of furniture, ordered by numerous clients. One can recognize it at dr Ernst Wittern's desk in Beck, as made for a married couple in Münchhausen or for a national museum in Weimar. Many designs by van de Velde include a mezzanine bookshelf (photo 34) with minor alterations introduced by the commissioning parties.
In photo 35 portraying the winter garden one can recognize two wooden chairs with interlaced plait seats, stained dark, and a high extra table, painted white. This light furniture was used in gardens, on verandas and terraces as well as in winter gardens and open lobbies. A variety of these can be found in numerous van de Velde's designs. They were produced in a little town of Tannrod in Thuringia.
Not only did van de Velde design the social rooms for the main building, but also the doors to the patients' rooms on the first and second floors. One cannot but notice especially the beautiful door framing (photo 36). On the first floor - in the area of the noisy day rooms, such as lobbies - patients' rooms are effectively separated from one another by double doors and a vestibule.
Max Schündler, reporting on the cost estimate submitted by the firm Scheidemantel, mentions 48 pairs of doors altogether. As regards the form, the doors were similar to the ones at the Folkwang museum in Hagen and the Craene Villa in Brussels, which were designed at the same time (photo 37).
Last but not least, one must address the question of the importance of the sanatorium in Trzebiechów (photo 38) in the overall creative output of Henry van de Velde. The artist himself gives us a vital clue. From what we know, van de Velde paid two personal visits to Trzebiechów. The first one took place in March 1903 and was devoted to sightseeing tours of the local area and personal conversations with the architect Max Schündler and the Reuß Duchess. Nearly a year later van de Velde again embarked on a long trip from Weimar to Trzebiechów to personally supervise the finishing works. He particularly wanted to examine the colour effect and the materials used to finish the interiors. If need be, he was ready to change the colour scheme of the interiors and the materials used. From the voluminous correspondence between him and the Duchess one may infer how much the project meant to van de Velde. Two visits to such a distant building site are proof of his dedication to the undertaken task and of his high esteem for the mandator.
Today in Trzebiechów we may once again admire van de Velde's great artistic achievement. Although made of cheaper materials, the interior design in Trzebiechów can be compared to other projects completed at the same time - the Nietzsche Archives in Weimar, the museum in Hagen and Villa Esche in Chemnitz.
Thank you very much for your attention.
