The Rietveld Schröder House is not the only house that Gerrit Rietveld designed in Utrecht. Others include the nearby housing blocks on Erasmuslaan.

Erasmuslaan: functionalist architecture

Truus Schröder played an important role in the construction of the houses on Erasmuslaan as well. For many years, her living room in the Rietveld Schröder House overlooked a sweeping polder landscape. When the land was released for development, she wanted to be certain that what was built there would be aesthetic. So she bought the land herself, and asked Gerrit Rietveld to design and build the houses. A block of four townhouses was completed in 1931, followed by an apartment block in 1934.

Rietveld's designs followed the principles of functionalism, Nieuwe Bouwen in Dutch, a style that was rational and efficient, with none of the hallmarks of De Stijl. In October 1931, Rietveld and Schröder furnished one of the houses to serve as a model home. The Centraal Museum has reconstructed this interior.

The townhouses on Erasmuslaan

The model home shortly after opening

Robijnhof: homes for ‘ordinary’ people

In the early 1950s, Gerrit Rietveld designed almost six hundred houses in the Utrecht districts of Tolsteeg and Hoograven: the Robijnhof. Here, just after World War II, Rietveld designed practical and affordable homes accessible for ‘ordinary’ people. Space and light were important starting points.

The kitchen of Robijnhof 13, photo: Ernst Moritz, 2009

These houses are not under the management of the Centraal Museum and not open to the public.