Nicolaas Tinbergen, and what is left
Of Nicolaas Tinbergen's principal Rotterdam works, the corner furniture works is among the few still standing. The glass arcade he helped raise as a young man is gone, and so is the great theatre he supervised. The twin-towered church his firm built came down in 1972. Anyone who wants to see a Tinbergen building today has a short list to choose from, and a furniture factory on a quiet corner is on it.
How he came to sign that corner's drawings is a stranger story than a signature suggests, and it starts where he did, in a brush-maker's house.
A brush-maker's son
On a June day in 1854 a brush-maker walked to the Rotterdam town hall to report a birth. Simon Cornelis Tinbergen was a borstelmaker (a maker of brushes), living in a street the act gives as the Franschestraat, a reading of the old hand not yet cross-checked against the alternatives. His wife Marrigje den Boer had given birth to a son at midday on the twelfth. He brought two witnesses and gave their trade as he gave his own: both were brush-makers too. The clerk wrote down the child's name.
The register sheet is in the clerk's looping hand, with several births entered one after another and this one last. The naming is set down in the formula of the day:
> No. 1742. > On this day, the fourteenth of June eighteen hundred fifty-four, there appeared before me, Member of the Local Government of Rotterdam, appointed Registrar of the Civil Registry, in the town hall: Simon Cornelis Tinbergen, by occupation brush-maker, aged twenty-three [?] years, residing at Franschestraat 10-435, who declared to me that on the twelfth [?] of this month, at twelve o'clock noon, at his house a child of the male sex was born to Marrigje den Boer, without occupation, likewise residing there, his wife — which child shall be named Nicolaas. > The said declaration was made in the presence of Pieter Stolk, by occupation brush-maker, aged thirty-three [?] years, residing at Zwaanshals 14-73, and of Johannes Verhoef, by occupation brush-maker, aged twenty-eight years, residing at Jodenlaan 13-379. And I have drawn up this act, signed after reading aloud by the father, the witnesses and me. > [signatures]
It is a small document, and it names a trade, not an ambition. Nothing in it points towards architecture.
There was a step in between. When he married Alida Koot in 1877, at twenty-three, he gave his trade as timmerman, a carpenter, not as a brush-maker and not yet as an architect. He signed the act in his own hand, beside his father the borstelmaker:
> No. 1172. On the fourteenth of November 1877, before us, Registrar of Rotterdam, appeared, to contract a marriage … Nicolaas Tinbergen, aged 23, carpenter (timmerman), born and resident here, of-age son of Simon Cornelis Tinbergen, brush-maker and Marietje den Boer, without profession, both resident here — and Alida Koot, aged 26, maidservant, born and resident here, of-age daughter of the late Anthonius Koot and of Willemina Johanna Vermeulen … > [signatures at foot:] N Tinbergen · A Koot · S C Tinbergen · M den Boer · H C v.d. Graaf · L C Speelman · [P] Dunk · [registrar]. > [note above the signatures:] the mother of the bride declared she had not learned [to write].
By 1892 a Rotterdam birth act enters him as an architect, living on the 1e Lombardstraat. That address belonged to a building firm. The records do not say how he got there, but they do show what he did once he had.
> No. 6756. On the tenth of December 1892 … appeared: Maria Koot … by profession midwife, resident here, who declared that on the 8th of this month … at [one] a.m. in a house on the eerste (1e) Lombardstraat here, was born a child of the male sex, of Alida Koot, without profession, wife of Nicolaas Tinbergen, architect, both resident here; the child shall be named Arie Cornelis.
The firm he bought
His life turned on a paid advertisement. On New Year's Day 1888 the widow of a Rotterdam carpenter placed a notice in De Maasbode: the timmermansaffaire (the carpentry business) her late husband had carried on under the firm name "J. J. van Hattem & Zoon" had passed into other hands. She named the successor and, in the polite phrasing of a trade notice, commended him to the firm's customers:
> ☞ The undersigned has hereby the honour to inform her esteemed clientèle that the carpentry business > conducted here in this city by her Husband, the late Mr W. VAN HATTEM J.J.zn., under the firm name > > "J. J. VAN HATTEM & SON" > > has been transferred by her to Mr > > N. Tinbergen S.C.zn., > > whom she respectfully recommends as her successor. > > Widow of W. VAN HATTEM J.J.zn., > née VAN MEYGAARDEN. > > ——— > > With reference to the above advertisement, the undersigned takes the liberty of respectfully recommending > himself, with the assurance that he will leave nothing untried to make himself worthy of the confidence so > abundantly granted to his predecessor. > > N. TINBERGEN S.C.zn. > > Rotterdam, 1 January 1888. (5)
Below it runs a second, shorter notice, signed by Nicolaas Tinbergen. He commends himself to the same customers and promises to leave nothing untried to deserve the confidence his predecessor had enjoyed.
From that first of January he headed the old van Hattem firm at 1e Lombardstraat 30. What he had bought was a builder's business, a workshop and a yard, not a drawing office. Jan Jansen van Hattem had founded it and his son Wouter had carried it on; Wouter's death the year before opened the way to the sale. The van Hattems and their own long history have a deep dive of their own, .
He was now an architect who also owned the firm that put the buildings up. The firm kept the van Hattem name for years. Only around 1905 to 1910 did it begin to trade under his own, as N. Tinbergen en Zoon, Tinbergen and Son.
In 1899 the double role reached the corner. The permit, issued for the account of van Duffelen and Pelt, named the builder as the firm of J. van Hattem. By then that firm was Tinbergen's own office, so the architect on the elevation and the builder on the application were the same enterprise, with Tinbergen at its head. The permit and its drawings are laid out in . The address book of the same year prints the builder's firm and the architect at one door, 1e Lombardstraat 30:
The signature on that elevation, and the name set aside in reading it, are tested against his own later hand. Two Rotterdam permits of 1902 carry his signature, and the same writing runs through the body of every office sheet in that small group. The crossbar of his capital T sweeps across unbroken, and the pen runs quick and pinched to the last syllable of the name. One of the signed sheets is a drawing for verandas at the Gesticht Bethesda on the Oostmaaslaan, the hospital whose board he also chaired:
> [title, top centre, in constructed block lettering:] > VERANDAS "BETHESDA" > > [headings over the three elevations, left to right:] > SIDE ELEVATION — FRONT ELEVATION — SECTION > > [headings over the two plans below:] > GROUND FLOOR — 1ST FLOOR > > [dimension notes against members in the section — timber sizes in centimetres:] > 0.20/0.25 [?] (arrow to the gutter) · 12/35 · 0.20/0.20 [?] · kesp [pile cap-beam] 18/26 · 12/15 · 13/16 [?] > > [scale bar under the plans:] > SCALE 1 : 50 > > [handwriting lower right, inside the frame:] > Belonging to the application of > the Governors of the Bethesda Institution > on the Oostmaaslaan No. 12, dated 19 Dec. 1901. > > [signature, immediately below the frame, large, with a paraph underneath:] > N. Tinbergen > > [purple/violet stamp, upper right — the first word is crossed by the drawing's frame line:] > BELONGS TO THE DECISION OF THE MAYOR > AND ALDERMEN OF ROTTERDAM OF > THE (in red manuscript:) 24 January 1902, No. (red:) 189 > THE SECRETARY OF THE MUNICIPALITY > [secretary's signature, black ink, running across the section drawing:] [A.?] W. J. Heijmans (so read; not certain) > [in red, below/beside that signature:] l⁰ (probably "loco", i.e. acting secretary — not certainly legible) > > [circular ink docket, above the stamp:] > bij in[b?]: W[?] / [figures]/1 (the same circular registry note appears on all five other sheets in this series; the abbreviation cannot be read with certainty on any of them) > > [written sideways in the bottom right corner, outside the frame:] 189. > > [in the GROUND FLOOR plan, lower left: a drawn compass rose / north point, no lettering.]
The second 1902 permit has the same signature and the same body hand, and puts the work plainly in his name:
> Specification belonging to the application > of 24 Sept. 1902 for the building of a > gentleman's house on the Mathenesserlaan. > > The house will be built on a plot > on the Mathenesserlaan, known in the land register as Section > B No. 8308, and is bounded: on the East > by the property of Mr H. A. van Baak; > on the North by the property of. [left blank] > on the West by the grounds of the Land-Holding Company > (Maatschappij van Grondbezit), and on the South by the Mathe- > nesserlaan. > The arrangement of the house is for one family > and is clearly shown on the accompanying drawing. > It is being built by, and for the account of, the applicant. > > [right, above the signature:] Rotterdam, 24 Sept. 1902. > [signature, large, with a long rule beneath:] N. Tinbergen > > [purple stamp, lower left:] > BELONGS TO THE DECISION OF THE MAYOR > AND ALDERMEN OF ROTTERDAM OF > THE (red manuscript:) 21 October '02, No. (red:) 3050 > THE SECRETARY OF THE MUNICIPALITY > [signature:] [A.?] W. J. Heijmans (so read; not certain) — [in red beside it:] l⁰ (probably "loco", acting) > > [circular ink docket, right of the third line:] bij in[b?]: W[?] / 0523/2 (abbreviation not certainly legible) > > (Note on line 8: the sentence "on the North by the property of." was left unfinished by the writer — no name follows.)
His part is worded differently from sheet to sheet. On one the building goes up onder leiding en door (under the direction of and by) N. Tinbergen:
> Specification (underlined) for the building of a gentleman's house > on the ~~'s Gravendijkwal~~ (struck out; written above in lighter ink: Mathenesserlaan [?]), with the accompanying > drawings in duplicate and land-register map. > The plot is, according to the accompanying map, known in the land register > as Section B no. 8309. > The plot adjoins on the North the property of > Mr. [name left blank] > . . . . . . . . on the West the property > of the Land-Holding Company (Maatschappij van grondbezit). > . . . . . . . on the East, the property > of Mr. Eijl [?]. > . . . . . . . . on the South the Mathenesser- > laan, property of the municipality. > The building shown on the accompanying drawing > is arranged for one occupant and contains > the various rooms which are clearly indicated > on the drawing, with their heights > and lighting. The building is erected for the > account of the undersigned, under the direction > of and by N. Tinbergen of this town. > > [lower right, in the same hand as the text:] > Belonging to the application > of 15 May 1902. > [signature, in a different, heavier hand:] H. A. van Baak > > [purple stamp, lower left:] > BELONGS TO THE DECISION OF THE MAYOR > AND ALDERMEN OF ROTTERDAM OF > THE (red manuscript:) 24 June 1902, No. (red:) 1834 > THE SECRETARY OF THE MUNICIPALITY > [signature, black ink:] J. J. Tavenraat [?] (so read; the surname is not certainly legible) > > [circular ink docket, upper right, overlapping the word "Heerenhuis":] bij in[b?]: W[?] / 4570/2 > > (The "on the West / on the East / on the South" lines begin with a row of dots, the usual ditto marks for "The plot adjoins".)
On another, a job for the firm Hendrik van der Vijver, the sheet names only the applicant and says nothing about his own part:
> [purple stamp, at the head:] > BELONGS TO THE DECISION OF THE MAYOR > AND ALDERMEN OF ROTTERDAM OF > THE (red manuscript:) 2 January 1903, No. (red:) 21 > THE SECRETARY OF THE MUNICIPALITY > [signature, black ink:] Heijmans [?] (so read; not certain) > > [circular ink docket, right:] bij in[b?]: W[?] / 1069/2 > > Specification belonging to the application > of 3 December 1902 of the firm Hendrik > van der Vijver, to proceed with the making of > a bay window on their premises situated on > the Oostzeedijk at the corner of the Admiraliteitstraat, > No. 312 and 5. > The bay window is wished to be placed > on the façade to the Admiraliteitstraat, > in place of the two light-frames adjoining > the façade of their factory, and on > the first floor. The whole is composed > of timber with the use of iron > beams for the load-bearing part; the > extreme dimension of the cornice ornament > is 1.05 c.M². [so written; 1.05 m is meant] All of it shown > on the accompanying drawing. > > [right, below the text:] > Rotterdam, 3 Decemb[er] 1902. > Firm. > Hendrik van der Vijver. > [beneath, a second signature with a rule under it:] [H?] v.d. Vijver.
Beside the corner's 1899 elevation the hands match. The comparison plate below was assembled for this project by laying the two documents side by side; its authority lies in the original scans it crops, not in the montage:
Our earliest likeness of him was printed a quarter of a century after the sale, at the head of a newspaper tribute to his firm:
A clean-shaven, balding man of about fifty-nine, in a dark suit and high collar, looks a little to one side. It is the earlier of the two known press portraits of him, and the earliest likeness of any kind we hold; no picture of him as a younger man has come to light.
What he built
The corner is a modest entry on Tinbergen's list. For four decades his firm and his own drawing board worked across the city, in mixed roles. On a few buildings he was the designing architect; on more, his firm was only the builder, or he was the supervisor who kept the site moving.
His schooling ended in a prize: a concert hall he designed as a student won the academy's large silver medal for architecture, the grote zilveren medaille voor bouwkunst. While he was still young, three heerenhuizen (large town houses) went up to his design on the Oostzeedijk.
Then the roles begin to mix. As medewerker (associate) to the architect J. C. van Wijk, he ran the construction of de Passage, a covered shopping arcade raised in the late 1870s, a skylit street of shops. A cabinet-card photograph looks straight down its glass-vaulted hall:
Ornate, richly carved fronts rise several storeys on either side, and at the far end two winged figures flank the arch under the glass roof. A great globe lamp hangs above the walkway, a clock stands on the right, and shoppers dressed in the fashion of about 1900 stroll below.
He detailed the city's first floating dry-dock, work closer to engineering than to architecture. At the Groote Schouwburg, the big theatre on the Aert van Nesstraat, he oversaw the site day to day as hoofdopzichter (chief supervisor). A photograph of about 1885, identified as the theatre going up, shows a scaffolded site with the roof still open to the trusses. A coal-merchant's shop stands in the foreground, and children play on the cobbles:
He did not draw his largest job of all. The Koninginnekerk, a tall brick church of 1904 to 1907, had twin towers and a great rose window. The architects Hooykaas and Brinkman designed it, and Tinbergen's firm built it. A period photograph shows the church in its prime:
The two towers stand beside the great rose window of the front, across a square with a canal and a tram. The 1913 tribute said the church would testify for centuries to the honour of its builders:
City News. A jubilee in the building industry N. Tinbergen S.Czn. Among the Rotterdammers born around the year fifty of the last century are to be sought the men who—each according to his nature and in the place fallen to him—brought about the remarkably rapid development of our city. They form a type apart, which, even though it made the slogan: “Rotterdam woonstad” possible, is barely touched by its urge. They never knew the merchant city on the Maas as anything other than a city of work, and because labor was their life's purpose from boyhood, they found relaxation, in so far as they needed it, only in governing institutions of public or special utility, content with their city as it grew, as it were, beneath their hands. Even if they were or became wealthy, luxury still left them cold, as they lacked the time to enjoy it. That untiring labor has not finished off most of them; even now, one still finds the wealthiest of this generation at the head of larger and smaller businesses, and the entire generation still occupies a leading position alongside its successors. If one wishes to say that the venerable working power of these men gave little ground to the finer pleasures of mind and spirit, it must be borne in mind that it is not right to deny them a taste for them on that account, when it was merely a lack of time and peace of mind that made many of them into utterly one-sided, yet in that one-sidedness admirable, workers. Not each of these vigorous men in their fifties stands equally at the forefront of the city's life, but if through circumstances one of them enters the light of public interest for a moment, the character of the entire type can generally be pointed out in him, and a tribute to him reflects back upon all the others. One finds the workers of this generation in all circles, in all trades, and the chronicle-writing journalist, who witnesses many tributes, knows better than anyone what these drivers of Rotterdam's energy have brought about. For these workers could not do alone what they wished. Around them they had workforces to whom they gave employment and direction, workmen of lower or higher rank, closely bound to the master's business. As stated, the full light falls on the significance of these men mostly at jubilees, and a remarkable case of such a man in such a task calls for attention on the 1st of January. This time in the building industry, for twenty-five years ago Mr. N. Tinbergen came to head the firm of J. J. Van Hattem en Zoon; later, when one of these sons became a partner, it became Mr. N. Tinbergen en Zoon. Eight men of the carpentry staff will then have been in his service for a quarter of a century and will celebrate his jubilee alongside him as fellow jubilarians. Mr. Tinbergen is a Rotterdammer through and through, shaped in a family that was molded by Rotterdam. Standing at the old-Rotterdam workbench in the workshop that is now his own, and not as a dilettante, the “Academie” offered him the opportunity on winter evenings to develop his talent, so that, barely a man, he reached from behind the bench toward a higher place in life. And this came easily to him with the certificate that the Academie board had awarded him in the form of the large silver medal, specifically for a concert hall designed by him. That the architect's education had been of value, Mr. Tinbergen was soon able to demonstrate when, as an architect, he was commissioned to build three townhouses on the Oostzeedijk, which even now—much for the sake of the street that has changed greatly there—still make a good impression, displaying in all its sobriety the respectable residential architecture of that time. As an associate of the architect Wijk, Mr. Tinbergen had directed the construction work on the Passage, an exceptionally extensive and complex building project for that time, but later he temporarily moved into an entirely different field. Rotterdam received its first floating dock; and draftsmen were needed for it. But in the field of iron construction, there were far fewer who were at home, so that a mechanically skilled architect was gladly taken on for it. With another, as a share[?], he directed the work at the Nieuwehaven; with equal daring, Mr. Tinbergen drew the details of the first Rotterdam iron drydock, which may look like a box to a layman, but indeed—like all such docks—contains a structure akin to that of a railway bridge. For an engineer, building a drydock is an interesting work, but the designer faces so many new problems with colossal iron structures that the draftsmen, who attend to the many details of such a work, are most certainly responsible for no small matter. Besides the heaviness of the material worked with, it must never be forgotten that such a colossus must not only be firm and strong, but that it must also bear the weight of the ship, at one time half-submerged in the water and then completely clear, so that the wall has no resistance other than from the air. Everything must be firm and strong, yet pliable enough to withstand the pressure of the shore timbers on the sides when a violent wind pushes sideways on the ship taken into the drydock. The engineer certainly has to design the guidelines in this as well, but the draftsmen must examine the details to see whether any weak point presents itself here or there in the construction, whether account has been taken of the expansion and contraction of the heavy material, which must be able to work without impairing the strength of the entire construction. If the second draftsman later found an honorable path paved for him as an engineer in America, Mr. Tinbergen also remained connected with iron construction for a long time, when, after a short period of working in the field of water supply, he found employment as chief clerk of works during the construction of the Grooten Schouwburg on the Aert van Nesstraat. That the skilled and experienced construction technician had his hands full between the young architect and a few difficult contractors is to be presumed by anyone who knows anything of these matters, but it is also understandable that under such circumstances one learns a great deal, not only in sound practice, but also in the skill of dealing with people, so necessary for the head of a building firm such as that of the firm of N. Tinbergen en Zoon. The architect does indeed design in broad strokes, and when the drawings are handed in on time, he comes from time to time to satisfy himself of the progress the work is making, but the chief clerk of works is the man who has to decide in all occurring disputes, who must declare without delay: this is how work will proceed, that solution to that difficulty is best, and when one of the contractors cannot simply continue working due to force majeure, he must try to keep the work moving nonetheless, even if this or that party is not on time, has not delivered the natural stone on time, or another shipment did not meet the requirements set. For with the rapid expansion of the large cities, the building trade was naturally heavily involved, but in the judgment of many who witnessed it, it largely changed in character. The profession of contractor, still in swaddling clothes half a century ago, has slowly but surely positioned itself into a brokerage between the master craftsmen and the architects with their clients. Money was not made from it when primarily the quality of the delivered work is good enough for him as long as it is not bad enough to be rejected. And beside the contractor stands the builder, who, like the shoemaker or tailor, was sometimes an undertaker's mute or publican, and who cared even less about the traditions of the craft—if only it is cheap, it is always still good enough for him. Yet in a few, mostly older, firms the building trade continued to be practiced in such a way that good work could be delivered at all times; both where it remained visible and where, vanishing from sight, it was even more necessary. Not always and everywhere is this quality work appreciated—the best Rotterdam names can be read on the worst houses here and there—yet there is still a good number of people in all circles of the population who know how to appreciate the good counsel of the skilled and faithful builder, and the good work of his laborers. Among those, Van Hattem, Van Hattem en Zoon had its clients, and Mr. Tinbergen not only managed to retain them, but himself caused them to increase in diversity of work. Versatility is required for that. If a worthy old lady sends for someone who is newly engaged in the building trade, but in whom she has placed her trust, and then asks him for advice in the delicate case of whether an old wall can still stand, as she imagines, then the human being more than the builder ought to have the floor, and so it naturally is a thousand times over when one carries out major alterations commissioned by the clientele. But the next time it concerns a heavier task. In some old building or other the whole floor must undergo alterations, and preferably in such a manner that neither the high authorities nor the neighbors suffer inconvenience from the shoring in the smooth functioning of business operations. In the buildings of the growing Nieuwsblad, this has occurred repeatedly during the 25 years that Mr. Tinbergen has contributed to it in his way. But naturally this also occurs where the entire establishment makes demands on machinery and all that pertains to it. In all such cases, however, good and trusted workmen must be available, and that gives to firms such as Tinbergen's such a distinctive character, making it possible that, despite the vicissitudes of the building industry, an entire group of men celebrates the silver jubilee together with the master. Piet and Gerrit, Arie and Janus, Kees and Hendrik, Willem and “Vos”... moreover, each has his own place in the business; each, alongside the master, is in turn a trusted confidant of a few or of many clients, whose business or home they know down to a tee, and wherein they have rendered services under all kinds of circumstances. Is it any wonder that in such a firm a center of construction expertise arises, of great value to anyone wishing to make use of it? Less apparent outwardly is that which [...] with the builders from the very beginning, but indeed for truly good building, it is precisely the experience of the practical man that can least be spared. To giving practical advice, based on the understanding of the inquirer, and to carrying out commissions as well as possible, Mr. Tinbergen has applied himself from the beginning, and amid all that has changed, his opinion in this regard has remained the same: in that alone, in his view, does the form in which he practices the building trade find its reason for being. Whoever comes to market with him must know or experience that he keeps his eye equally on the contractor or the builder. And he can do so primarily because a staff of skilled workers is at his service at all times. That his firm therefore acquired at least as good a reputation for the execution of large works, Mr. Tinbergen proved with the construction of the Koninginnekerk, which is, as it were, the master test for the “Leistungsfähigkeit” of the building trade in its old form, yet technically adapted to modern times. In this construction, Mr. Tinbergen acted not as designer and master builder, but as one of the executors. The anxious days during the construction of Plan C, when the suppliers of natural stone left the contractors in the lurch; other grievances about late delivery had not been forgotten, and therefore it took all the greater daring on the gentlemen's part to undertake the building of such a church. And what mattered was not strictly following the orders of others, but the entire management of such a construction had to be taken up alongside the usual worries that an employer is presented with in these times. In earlier centuries, such a great work was brought to a halt every now and then, but nowadays it is contracted and must be delivered on time. And whereas an excuse was valid back then—the material has not arrived—the resources of the present day have shortened distances, so that a contractor is obliged to verify for himself weeks in advance whether what he will need months from now is already in preparation and will not stand in the way of smooth progress. Here, mostly mental work was required, and accomplished as well! The Koninginnekerk will bear witness with praise for centuries in honor of its builders. No less in the circle of his own community, on the street and indoors, during the twenty-five years that he has been a master. Things did not always go smoothly for him, and especially during the early period, the often heavy worries of an entrepreneur were not spared him. That he nevertheless succeeded in keeping his firm at the highest standard and making himself a prosperous man, he owes chiefly to his untiring working power and great frugality. Slowly but surely, however, progress came, and the man who, on entering life, brought nothing more than his good sense and his healthy body, has become one of the first among his peers, esteemed in the circle of his professional colleagues and beyond, an authority in his field. If Mr. Tinbergen is a man who digs in his heels for his opinion, because he is ever concerned with the integrity of his judgment, this does not prevent him from having many friends and few enemies. A fortunate man in this as in other respects, who has every reason to celebrate his jubilee with cheerfulness.
The same tribute looked back to his beginnings. It recalled that he had learned his craft at an old-Rotterdam planing bench, in the very workshop that later became his, and had developed his gift in the Academie's winter evenings, and not as a dilettante.
For a quarter of a century he advised on the building of the growing premises of the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad on the Zuidblaak, the paper that would in the end print both his portraits. He was the designing architect of the three Oostzeedijk houses, the corner furniture works, the 1899 Haagscheveer building, the Hoogstraat 257 rebuilding and several schools, and only the builder or the supervisor on much of the rest.
The later firm, and his sons
The firm outlived the founder's hand. By the 1920s the old van Hattem workshop had long traded as N. Tinbergen en Zoon, and his sons had joined the business beside their father.
On 2 January 1928 the firm celebrated its fortieth anniversary, forty years from the day the widow had signed the business over. In the morning family and staff gathered at the firm's office on the Ged. Botersloot. His son and partner, M. Tinbergen, spoke first and gave him a portrait drawn by the painter H. E. Mees, and three of the firm's carpenters, C. de Wit, H. Doesburg and G. van Alphen, were honoured for forty years' service alongside him. The Mees drawing, a fourth likeness of the man, has not been traced. In the afternoon a well-attended reception filled his home on the Oostzeedijk, where the flowers were sent. The written and telegraphed congratulations included those of prof. van der Steur and of prof. Henri Evers, honorary chairman of the architectural society Bouwkunst en Vriendschap.
The paper he had advised for so long reported the anniversary:
40th Anniversary of N. Tinbergen. N. TINBERGEN. Yesterday marked 40 years since Mr. N. Tinbergen, currently the senior partner, was admitted into the firm N. Tinbergen en Zoon. This anniversary was commemorated this morning in the circle of family and staff at the firm's festively decorated office on the Ged. Botersloot. The honoree was first addressed by his son and co-partner, Mr. M. Tinbergen, who presented him with a gift consisting of a portrait of the honoree drawn by the painter H. E. Mees. On behalf of the staff, the foreman A. van Berkel spoke words of tribute to Mr. Tinbergen and presented flowers. Afterwards, the carpenters C. de Wit, H. Doesburg, and G. van Alphen, who were likewise celebrating their 40th anniversary with the firm, were honoured. Mr. M. Tinbergen addressed them in appreciative terms and presented them with a gift in an envelope. Mr. Van Berkel joined in this tribute on behalf of the staff. This afternoon, there was a well-attended reception at Mr. Tinbergen’s residence on the Oostzeedijk. Among the numerous floral arrangements that had been sent to the honoree were those from the Bond van Patroons in de Bouwbedrijven, from the association “Bouwkunst en Vriendschap”, from the Rott. Nieuwsblad, and from many contractors, suppliers, and firms with which the honoree is in contact. In addition to these floral arrangements, many telegraphic and written congratulations had arrived, including from prof. van der Steur and Evers. Many also took advantage of the opportunity offered by this reception to congratulate Mr. Tinbergen in person.
The society's flowers and letter were a courtesy to a man in its circle and do not prove he was a member. The link is still worth a moment. Bouwkunst en Vriendschap was the Rotterdam society also connected with the sculptor of the 1895 cabinet, made a few doors along in the story of the corner.
The firm's largest late job belonged to the son. In November 1927 the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad announced a block of new tobacco warehouses on the Admiraliteitskade for a tobacco firm, named A. L. van Beek in the article and A. S. van Beek in the headline. A perspective drawing of the planned block came with it:
The paper was careful about who was responsible:
> New tobacco warehouses for the firm A. S. van Beek > on the Admiraliteitskade. > > [perspective drawing of the block] > > Tomorrow, Thursday 3 Nov., the first stone will be laid of a block of new tobacco warehouses for the firm > A. L. van Beek, of this city, on a site on the Admiraliteitskade. > > The premises have a frontage of 44 m. to the quay and are about 24 m. deep at ground level. Counting the > ground floor, they run to 7 storeys and have a storage area of over 4,000 square metres. > > The work is carried out on a concrete foundation. The floors are supported between the load-bearing walls by > an iron structure. The covering is by a mastic roof. > > The designer of the warehouse complex is the firm N. Tinbergen and Son, of this city, which is also > carrying out the construction to its own plan. The building is due to be finished in the second half of > 1928.
The successor firm designed the warehouses and built them to its own plan. The first stone was laid the day after the notice, and the block was finished in the second half of 1928. By then the Tinbergen in the firm's name meant the son as much as the father.
The Nobel name
Visitors are bound to wonder about the surname, and the question deserves an exact answer. The architect's rare name was later carried by two Nobel laureates, Jan and Niko Tinbergen, and he was very probably their kinsman. The name is rare enough that it is most likely confined to a single Rotterdam family.
How close a cousin he was we cannot yet say, and one missing record is the reason.
What is left
The Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad printed his obituary on 13 March 1934, when he was seventy-nine. With it came the second of the two known press portraits, sharper than the jubilee one:
The face is fuller and the eyes heavier than in 1913. A small printed dagger after the name in the caption is the printer's mark for a death.
The obituary below the portrait is the fullest contemporary account of him that we have. In a single breath it runs through his career, from the Academie's silver medal through the Passage and the Groote Schouwburg to the firm he made his own:
Translation of the transcribed excerpts; ellipses mark omitted passages. > N. TINBERGEN. † > Last evening Mr N. Tinbergen died here, at the age of nearly 80, a very well-known figure in the > Rotterdam building world before the war. > Mr Tinbergen, who received his training at the Academy, won there, at the end of his studies, the great > silver medal for architecture. He subsequently worked as an associate on the construction of De Passage > and of the Groote Schouwburg. > He then joined the firm J. J. van Hattem en Zoon, later reconstituted as the firm N. Tinbergen en > Zoon, which under his direction or with him as architect carried out much important work in Rotterdam and > elsewhere, including the construction of the Koninginnekerk. > As an expert for the municipality, Mr Tinbergen repeatedly took part in the major expropriations in the > city centre and elsewhere. For a time he was also chairman of the First Rotterdam Employers' Association > for the building trades. > … For 36 years he was a deacon and a member of the Church Council; in 1929 he stepped down as > chairman of the college of deacons. For many years he was a board member and chairman of the "Bethesda" > hospital … In missionary work he was for more than 40 years a board member of the Association for the > Promotion of Missionary Work. > Mr N. Tinbergen also had an intimate association with the Nieuwsblad for many years. As building adviser > to the late Mr C. Sijthoff, he experienced the whole growth of our business on the Zuidblaak …
It also records a civic life the buildings do not show. He chaired the board of the Bethesda hospital, whose verandas he had drawn and signed in 1902. He served thirty-six years as a deacon of his church, stepping down as its praeses in 1929, and sat more than forty years on a missionary board. The city called on him again and again as its own expert in the great inner-city expropriations.
The obituary also states the firm's change of name in plain words: he joined de firma J. J. van Hattem en Zoon, naderhand omgezet in de firma N. Tinbergen en Zoon, later reconstituted under his own name. The civil register records the same death. His death act, drawn up on 14 March 1934, enters it two days earlier, at nine in the evening of the twelfth, and names him widower of Alida Koot:
> No. 1101. Grave-no. 680. > Today, the fourteenth of March nineteen hundred thirty-four, there appeared before me, Registrar of the civil registry of Rotterdam: Johan Louis van Zijl [?], undertaker, aged forty-seven [?] years, residing here, and Johannes Rosier, aged sixty-three years, without occupation, residing here, who declared that on the twelfth of March of this year, at nine o'clock in the evening, here died: Nicolaas Tinbergen, aged seventy-nine years, born and residing here, without occupation, widower of Alida Koot [?], son of Simon Cornelis Tinbergen and Marrigje den Boer, both deceased. > Of which act, which was read aloud. > [signatures]
It names his parents as Simon Cornelis Tinbergen and Marrigje den Boer, the same two the brush-maker's birth act had set down seventy-nine years before.
He did not live to see most of what became of his buildings. De Passage was destroyed in the German bombardment of 14 May 1940, six years after his death, and the Groote Schouwburg was bomb-damaged in the same raid and then demolished. The Koninginnekerk came down in the first months of 1972. A press photograph from January that year shows the church already being stripped inside. Men lift away rows of dark chairs, while the great organ and the pulpit still stand above them:
The van Beek warehouses on the Admiraliteitskade, the son's showpiece, were pulled down in 1982. The Passage, the Groote Schouwburg, the Koninginnekerk and the warehouses are all gone.
That is why a furniture factory built for two cabinet-makers, on a corner well away from the grand streets, matters more than its size suggests. It was entirely his own design, and it is still there. The brush-maker's son spent his career on the largest buildings in the city, and the smallest of them, the corner, is what survives him.