ABSTRACT
In the catalogue of twentieth century town halls, Hilversum represented a radical architectural departure. Its stripped-down architectural aesthetic and dramatic, apparently abstract, composition of horizontal and vertical forms, offered a very different model, which appeared to be entirely free of historical precedent. The 1920s in Holland, more than any other European country, was a period of architectural ferment in which several tribes of architects offered very different responses to the changing world around them. By 1918, concerns had begun to emerge within the Council regarding the practicality of building the large new town hall on Kerkbrink and Dudok identified a further possible site on Gravelandseweg. Between the council chamber and the primary courtyard are two levels of accommodation for the councillors, facing the courtyard and treated externally as a double-height glazed screen with brick columns between which give the building’s only hint of a Classical device.
