Kollum
(Fr): Gereformeerde kerk or Oosterkerk (E. Reitsma, 1924-1925)
The
Gereformeerde kerk of Kollum, or Oosterkerk as it is called since 2007,
replaced a wooden church built in 1887. In 1924 young architect Egbert
Reitsma was commissioned to design a new church. It would be his first
church, not counting the one he built with his father in Munnekezijl in
1920. Reitsma would soon become one of the major architects of
the calvinist Gereformeerde denomination. Following the principles of
the leader of that denomination, A. Kuyper, the church has a
centralizing ground plan, basically a Greek cross with two of its arms
having three-sides extensions and a massive-looking tower at the front.
The church is in Expressionist style, a
style Reitsma continued to use for several more churches, and is built
of brick around a concrete skeleton. The bricks Reitsma used had been
close to the fire of the ovens, causing an irregular, and therefore
decorative, structure. The most irregular stones were used at the upper
parts of the gables and the tower. Reitsma
also designed the consistory and also took care of its enlargement in
1969
Unusual
for a church of this denomination are the painted ceilings, made by
Reitsma's friend George Martens.
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