Our interior has been renewed; time to dive into the history of our office building
New colours on the walls, new wooden floors and new wallpaper in the conference room. The restyling of our office in Arnhem has recently been completed. This gives us a lot of energy to work at full power on good content every day. At ContentXperience we are always innovating and that’s why we prefer to look ahead. Nevertheless, we would like to take you back in time in this blog about the history of our building.
The office still feels rather new to us: we have only been there since 2018. But the first brick was already laid in 1910. It’s hard to imagine now but in those days the Arnhem region was the place to be for the nouveau riche. The Velperweg was the gateway to a belt of estates called Gelders Arcadië. Many people wo had amassed a fortune in the colonies set up their summer residence there. The varied, hilly landscape with its streams and panoramic view on nature reserve the Veluwe exerted a great attraction on the elite.
Um-1800-style
Everywhere in the area of the Velperweg buildings like ours sprung up in the relatively unknown Um-1800-style. This is a historicizing movement, which means it is based on the past. This was the focus of attention at the time because a much read book had been published shortly before. It was written by the German architect Paul Mebes. The title was UM 1800: Architektur und Handwerk im letzten Jahrhundert ihrer traditionellen Entwicklung.
Characteristic of the style is the use of natural stone and the presence of turrets, bay windows and ornaments derived from Baroque and Roccoco. The block structure is typical. The main entrance is usually in the middle. Also the roof of these buildings is rather impressive. Especially shops and offices are built in this style. Near our villa you will also find De Vijf Zuylen. This is a monumental building that every inhabitant of Arnhem knows. It is now used by a bank. In the center of Arnhem there are more buildings in the Um-1800 style like the current McDonald’s. A nationally known example in The Netherlands is De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam.
Horsecar
The building we now use, was called ‘t Haveke (hawk in English) shortly after its construction. This name can still be seen today on an oval panel on the side. The villa was extended at the back in 1928. Until the sixties the address was not Velperweg but Ernst Casimirlaan 68. On postcards from the early 20th century you see a horsecar riding through the street. There is a tramstop in front of the door. The street is then still a leafy avenue and not the office street it is now. A remarkable fact is that W.G. Wieringa lived in ‘t Haveke in 1925. He was the manager of De Nationale Credietbank (National Credit Bank). Today there is still a link with the financial world. The Van Lanschot Bank has its office at Velperweg 148.
Jeux de boeuf
Our office has a monumental status. In the Dutch national register of monuments it is called a ‘villa with fence’. In this document the ‘architectural-historical value’ is praised. This also applies to the ‘high-quality aesthetic qualities of the design’. The review applauds the design in many more beautiful words. It would take too long to explain all of the jargon but some terms are worth mentioning. What about braised Tuiles du Nord (rooftiles), pilasters, festoons, Tuscan columns, jeux de boeuf and a slightly rising central bay?
The past inspires us to put our shoulders to the wheel with our customers for the marketing of tomorrow. Of course we use are own jargon like branding, lead generation and marketing as a service. Do you want to know what they mean? Then please read our other blogs.
Do you know more about the history of Velperweg 148? Let us know! Of course you can always contact us if you need help setting up a rock-solid B2B campaign. Come and take a look at our beautiful building.
