The Raymer enterprise., 1915-09-23

sailors hammered at the arctic ice-pack and
pushed their trade among tropical spice islands
Ihen II was that De Ruyter sailed up the Thames
with broom at his masthead; then. too. that
Rembrandt painted and Vondel rhymet That
also for Holland great building age. when
prosperity caused cities to grow. canals to be
dug, ports to be built, and the multiplex activity
OF Dutehmen to manifest itself In all kinds OF
maklngs and shaptngs upon the surface Of their
ainphibous land-haIf earth. half water. Thus
II IL the Holland Of Rembrandts day and there
a"out that remains most interesting 10 the trav-
eier. and IL is the buildings then erected that
most worthy OF study and presentation within
her towns
Amsterdam when Rembrandt went to settle
there about 1881 passing archtecturally
through period of transition, The small
pf the city, where everything was on small
scale. still retained many remnants OF the me-
d'eEal age The canals In il narrow. the
accommodation for ships was exiguous grow.
ing population and expanding trade were finding
themselves horribly rramped
Amsterdam grew like an onion by layers sur.
rounding layers about a center From time to
time new rings of canals were added with radial
connections and then more rings outside them
tt course fortified walls were erected round the
Whoie at different dates but they never lasted for
t'hs and had to be replaced by new circuits as
the city expanded. The moat OF each new circuit
"'eame a canal within the next Those who were
f'sponsbie for the important changes made at
ihe beginning OF the seventeenth century had the
good sense not to destroy every memorial OF
medieval days In particular they spared some
'' tue Old fortltcation towers applying them to a
now purpose and rehttng them accordingly Thus
t"e tower called Montebaanstoren which still
u ftuHa bp tia ola
basins OF the earlier canal system was a part of
the medieval Notifications They turned il into
picturesque bell tower by the addition of a
silperstructure set up In the year 1906 Though
thts was done before Rembrandts day he omitted
the steeple in an admirable drawing he made OF
n thus giving one among countless instances
that might be cited. or his attachment rather 10
the past than TO the coming taste of the people
ar his day. The only other high tower at Am.
sterdam drawn by him was the Westertoren or
tower OF the Westerkerk on the Prlnsengracht
which unfortunately we cannot produce in this
place, That tower favorite with the folk
OF Amsterdam aud have more than once found
u referred to, In narratives OF Dutch exploration
"a measure of height as. for instance when a
glacier clif is said to have stood out OF the sea
about as high as the Westertoren 1t is a storied
tower composed of four retreating rectangular
unlike some OF Wrens towers in the city OF Lon.
don
The Westertoren. however. carries us down
rather too late. when Palladan IDEAS were af
fecting Dutch architects This was feature Of
the change OF taste, which made the art OF Rem.
brandt old fashioned and terminated his pros
perity, The Mint tower OF 1910, and the others
shown in our illustrations are examples OF Am.
sterdam steeple architecture of Rembrandt's own
generation II they must be called fantastic they
are certainly picturesque and admirably suited
70 ehiiyen canal vista or to poke up out OF a
foreground OF crow+stepped gables
These are the typically Dutch towers these
buildings OF the great days of Dutch romance
Earlier towers we can find in Holland. but they
are Gothic. and re-echo the style elaborated in
France. France also set the key of architectural
style in the eighteenth century. In the seven.
teenth century Holland stood on her own feet
and other folk initiated the work of her artists
The Dutch style affected England 1t was mi
tated in the remarkable buildings erected in Den.
mark for Christian w. 1t penetrated to the ends
OF the earth. II went with Dutch adventurers to
New York. to Ceylon. to the Cape of Good Hope
where examples of 1t may still be hunted out by
patient searching
Our Illustrations include a few OF the earlier
u
must be said. Here. for instance. are the Cathe-
dral and one OF the medieval gates OF Maastricht
neither OF them In any sense charaeteristicaIly
Dutch. for the Holland that the world admres
was created I'm the fire OF the Reformation wars
The cathedral church OF St Seryatius at Mas.
trfeht Is OF early Christian foundation and IL is
even claimed that portions OF the existing walls
date back to the sixth century The building as
we see II. however, is great romanesque
church of Rhensh style. with restored eleventh
century towers at the angles of its apse and A
later Gothic bell tower adjacent to side aisle
Utrecht and Delft have bell towers Of a like kind
the upper story being manyslded and many
gabled Another such tower is in Paradise itsel,
II we are to believe Hubert Van Eyck's picture Of
that delectable land the famous altarpiece still
at Client, unless the Germans have carried II off
Medieval Maastricht was not a large place
The Cathedral was In the center OF it: not more
than five hundred yards away are the remains of
the city walls OF 1890 The exigepeies of war
make the military architecture Of a given date
everywhere much the same. Thus the tower
ranked south gate Of Maastricht is not different
In design from many another that can be found
Ia the old cities of Europe But though It had