Enschede (Ov): Lasonderkerk (J. & Th. Stuivinga, 1925-1927)
Although already in the 1880's the first plans
were made to build a
second reformed church in Enschede to provide for both modernist and orthodox
factions, it took some forty years
before they were realized. In 1925 a foundation took up the initiative to
collect funds for a new church for the orthodox. The chosen location was the new
Lasonder neighbourhood, hence the name of the church. To design the new Lasonderkerk the brothers J. and Th. Stuivinga (or Stuyvinga),
architects in Zeist, were commissioned.
The church is largely in an Expressionist style closely related to the Amsterdam School, but with influences from Scandinavian architecture. The church has a centralizing cruciform ground plan with a wide transept with large pointed windows, while the rest of the church has small rectangular windows only. The walls of the nave and the transept have buttresses, which in the case of the transept are integrated in the facades. The crossing is crowned with a hexagonal turret which serves for ventilation. At the north side, at the front of the church, is a tall tower. At its front is the main portal, which is richly ornamented.
In 1970 the original reformed users sold the
church to another calvinist denomination, the Nederlands Gereformeerde Kerk.
In December 2000 an explosion in a fireworks warehouse destroyed the Roombeek
neighborhood just north of the church, which itself suffered some damage too.
However, it was soon put back into use. In 2010 the tower was restored.
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