south-west and south-east facade app. 1925 south-west and south-east facade 2005
Eighty years after it was built, a visit to the Rietveld Schröder House remains a fascinating experience. It was designed by Gerrit Rietveld for Truus Schröder in 1924. As Rietveld’s client she had a great influence on the result. This house is the only building ever realized on the basis of the architectural principles of De Stijl. Typical features are the use of the Stijl colours red, blue and yellow, in combination with white, grey and black, the relation between interior and exterior and the unity between the free-standing pieces of furniture and the fitted parts of the interior. According to Rietveld and Schröder one had to have an active attitude to life.
For them too living in a home is a conscious act. The furnishing of the house reflects this conviction. The occupant has to perform a transaction for every activity: the bathroom is created by opening out a wall, while the sleeping areas could be screened off with sliding walls, and privacy was obtained by placing shutters in front of the windows. The house is literally a machine for living in.
The house is literally a machine for living in. After the death of Truus Schröder in 1985 the house became the property of the Rietveld Schröderhuis Foundation that in turn entrusted it to the Centraal Museum to administer once it had been restored. It has been open to the public since 1987. At the end of 2000 UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage List as ‘an important and unique icon in Western architectural history and a masterpiece of human creativity.’ The Schröder House occupies a key position in Rietveld’s work. Many people want to see it, but not everyone has the chance to come to Utrecht. Moreover it can only accommodate a fairly small number of visitors. As administrator, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht has therefore decided to make the house available online.
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (Utrecht 1888-1964)
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld app. 19?? Truus Schröder-Schräder app. 19??
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld lived and worked in Utrecht the whole of his life, as did many of his clients. His designs were published for the first time in 1919 in the ‘De Stijl’ journal. Theo van Doesburg was the driving force behind the Stijl movement, to which Piet Mondriaan and J.J.P. Oud also made contributions. De Stijl grew into one of the main avant-garde trends of the 20th century. After the Schröder House was completed, Rietveld became associated with the Nieuwe Bouwen and his style became more functionalist. In Utrecht Rietveld built 934 homes over a period of forty years, including the garage dwelling on the Waldeck-Pyrmontkade, one of the earliest prefab concrete constructions. Today the Rietveld collection of the Centraal Museum and Rietveld’s building projects in Utrecht are the destination of countless lovers of art and architecture worldwide.