Midwifery School Heerlen

In the spring of 1999, the midwifery school was designated as a protected monument under the Monuments Act 1988.

Architect Jan Stuyt (1868-1934) designed the midwifery school in Heerlen, consisting of several buildings on a hilltop with the Imstenraderbos as a backdrop. With this out-of-town location, a medical requirement for fresh air was met and a generous distribution of the various buildings over the available terrain could be created. The midwifery school consists of a gatehouse with a school, a clinic and a residence for the director; An economy building was recently hit by fire. Queen Wilhelmina laid the foundation stone on 25 September 1920. The work was completed in 1922. More than ten years later, a chapel was built; Jan Stuyt and his son Giacomo jointly designed the design (1934).

The foundation of this training institute and maternity hospital is directly related to an advance in medical science in the nineteenth century. In 1847, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) discovered a clinical-hygienic link between bacterial formation, contamination and infant mortality. As a direct result of the initially very controversial insights of dr. Semmelweis, a new medical policy arose, which reduced maternal and infant mortality by significant numbers. In the midwifery school, this breakthrough in the medical field can be recognized in separate buildings such as a school, a transit house and a women's and infants' clinic. In this perspective, the midwifery school can be attributed medical-historical significance. In remembrance of the great merits of dr. Semmelweis, a medallion with his image has been placed in the stairwell of the gatehouse.

In the Netherlands there was a second midwifery school in Rotterdam, but unfortunately it has been lost. For Jan Stuyt, 'Heerlen' was his second major assignment in healthcare. In 1907, together with Jos Cuypers, he built the Boerhaave Clinic in Amsterdam and in 1925 the Sint Elisabeth Hospital was established in Alkmaar. The midwifery school in Heerlen is the only one of these large Stuyt complexes that has been almost completely preserved.

Jan Stuyt's complex is very monumental. The buildings are not only large and representative, but because of their high location, the extensive presentation and their mutual and well-thought-out arrangement, the buildings quickly elicit an exclamation such as 'oh my'. More than one characteristic of Stuyt's style can be discovered in the ensemble. The checkered pilasters at the corners of the buildings, a tower-like structure at the entrance, natural stone garlands around an oeil de boeuf, the use of a tympanum above a door or window and the use of a spherical shape (bounce) as a reference to the name of the architect are some of the external characteristics. The floor plans show a clear order and consist of long corridors with adjoining rooms as treatment rooms, examination rooms and halls, while Stuyt's knowledge of (reinforced) concrete is expressed in the main construction (in the domes of the church of the Holy Land Foundation [1913] near Nijmegen and the St. Catharinakerk [1916] in 's-Hertogenbosch one can find other examples of Stuyt's interest in reinforced concrete as a building material). The midwifery school shows Stuyt at his best, whereas his earlier work often contains a neo-Gothic declaration of dependence. In the choice of materials, Stuyt made use of the local Maastricht chalk in frieze, mouldings and pilaster, while the plinth consists of Kunrader stone.

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