Hofje Codde en Van Beresteijn
Encyclopedia
The Hofje van Codde en Beresteyn is a hofje
Hofje
A hofje is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. They have existed since the Middle Ages.A hofje provided housing for elderly people . They were privately funded, and served as a form of social security...
in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The current building is from 1968 and is located on the J. Cuyperstraat, which is named for the architect who designed the Cathedral of Saint Bavo
Cathedral of Saint Bavo
The Cathedral of Saint Bavo is a religious building in Haarlem, the Netherlands, built by the Catholics from 1895 to 1930 to replace the former Waterstaatskerk St. Joseph. That church was itself a replacement for the Sint-Bavokerk, that had been converted to Protestantism from Catholicism in 1578...
next door, Joseph Cuypers. This hofje is the wealthiest hofje foundation in Haarlem with the most modern facilities for its inhabitants. Poor (devote) Catholic women of Haarlem 60 years and older are still welcome to live there for free.
History of the Hofje van Codde
The modern-day Hofje van Codde en Berestijn was built in 1968 on land next to the Cathedral of Saint BavoCathedral of Saint Bavo
The Cathedral of Saint Bavo is a religious building in Haarlem, the Netherlands, built by the Catholics from 1895 to 1930 to replace the former Waterstaatskerk St. Joseph. That church was itself a replacement for the Sint-Bavokerk, that had been converted to Protestantism from Catholicism in 1578...
, because the original donator, Pieter Jansz Codde, was Catholic and built his hofje next to the former cathedral in Haarlem, the Sint-Bavokerk
Sint-Bavokerk
The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square in the Dutch city of Haarlem...
on the Grote markt in the center of town. This location is the second move that the hofje made in its history spanning four centuries.
The Haarlem archives still keep the will and testament of the original donor, where it states that Mr. Pieter Jansz Codde, curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
of the (old) Sint-Bavokerk
Sint-Bavokerk
The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square in the Dutch city of Haarlem...
, Grote markt, wrote in 1598 that from the proceeds of his will, four rooms ('‘camerkens’') should be founded “Hofkenswijs” (in the Hofjes way) for poor elderly women. The resulting hofje was built by his executor Hendrick Spoorwater in 1609 on the Nauwe Damsteeg, next to the newly founded underground Catholic church Franciscusstatie (which itself later relocated to the Donkere Spaarne and was called de Vier Heemskinderen). It was the same year that the new poor men's almshouse Oudemannenhuis was completed (now housing the Frans Hals Museum
Frans Hals Museum
The Frans Hals Museum is a hofje and municipal museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1862 in the newly renovated former cloister located in the back of the Haarlem city hall known as the Prinsenhof...
). These two events were related. The Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monks or minnebroers had lost their former monastery in 1581 when the city had reclaimed that land (and the church located there) to rebuild the St. Elisabeth Gasthuis (burned in the fire of 1576), so these monks had no place to go. They found a place for prayer in the Damsteeg, but many also fled south. Prior to the fall of Haarlem to the Protestant republic in 1577 after the four-year Spanish occupation, many Haarlem hofjes were in some way physically connected to a specific church. This can still be seen in the case of the Lutherse hofje
Lutherse Hofje
The Lutherse Hofje is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands.-History:The hofje was founded by the Lutheran Church in 1615. Originally the people living in the hofje were members of this church, but nowadays only the board of the hofje is appointed by the Lutheran Church. The hofje adjoins the Lutheran...
, which still has rooms built up against the church building. In the same way, the original Hofje van Codde was originally attached to the Franciscusstatie. During the course of years it became known as the Spoorwater hofje, because the executor of the Codde testament lived in a much grander house on the corner of the Jansstraat, which housed the regent's room for the hofje.
Hillegond Gerritsdr, wealthy nun or klopje
Hillegond Gerritsdr, a nun in the Haarlem convent of St. Anna, asked the church for permission to take her possessions from the convent and leave them to this hofje. The St. Anna klooster was located on the same square (damaged beyond repair in 1572) where the Nieuwe KerkNieuwe Kerk (Haarlem)
The Nieuwe kerk is a historical church dating from the 17th century on the Nieuwe kerksplein in Haarlem, Netherlands.-History:The tower was built in 1613 by Lieven de Key against the older St. Anna church that itself was replaced by a design by Jacob van Campen in 1645-1649. The organ was...
stands today. Like all other convents of Haarlem, the nuns property was seized by the state. In 1581 the Annaklooster was formally seized by the state with all its possessions, and the nuns living there were forced to live elsewhere (they were given an annuity by the city to live by). Her story is much like the story of the nun Elisabeth Verhagen of the Haarlem St. Michielsklooster, who suffered a similar fate. The grounds of that cloister became the Proveniershuis
Proveniershuis
The Proveniershuis is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands.-History:The hofje was founded in 1707 by the city council to house elderly men of low means, called proveniers. The main building is much older than that. The entire site was once a nunnery, called the St...
. Hillegond Gerritsdr had her portrait painted by Maarten van Heemskerck with rosary in hand. This portrait hung in the regent's room for centuries, up until the move to the J. Cuyperstraat. Since then it has been on loan to the Frans Hals Museum
Frans Hals Museum
The Frans Hals Museum is a hofje and municipal museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1862 in the newly renovated former cloister located in the back of the Haarlem city hall known as the Prinsenhof...
. Her portrait is the only tangible evidence today of the lifestyle of the nuns of the St. Annaklooster.
Spoorwater
Nothing remains of the original hofje in the center of town. During the course of centuries, the successful hofje (known as Spoorwater's hofje) expanded and rebuilt, but in the 18th century, the Joh. EnschedéJoh. Enschedé
Royal Joh. Enschedé is a printer of security documents, stamps and banknotes based in Haarlem, Netherlands. Joh. Enschedé specialises in print, media & security. The company hosts the Museum Enschedé and has branches in Amsterdam, Brussels and Haarlem....
type foundry company slowly swallowed up all buildings between the Sint-Bavo-kerk and the Teylers Museum
Teylers Museum
Teyler's Museum , located in Haarlem, is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. The museum is in the former home of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst . He was a wealthy cloth merchant and Amsterdam banker of Scottish descent, who bequeathed his fortune for the advancement of religion, art and science...
. The original hofje was built on the Damsteeg directly behind the clock tower (in 2005 rebuilt on the Klokhuisplein), and comprised buildings from the Statie St. Franciscus, all the way along the Nauwe Damsteeg to the Lange Begijnestraat, where Spoorwater lived. The Nauwe Damsteeg and the Dam steeg no longer exist today, but in the recently finished former Enschede complex, the clock tower has been rebuilt, and there is now a new open space above the parking garage, called the Simon de Vrieshof on the same spot. On old maps of Haarlem, the original hofje appears in legends as Het Spoorwaters Hofje. It is formally called Stichting Het Hofje van Meester Pieter Janszoon Codde, genaamd Spoorwater, probably because Hendrick Spoorwater not only was the first regent, but he lived there until he died. Also, Mr. Codde was asked to leave his will to a hofje by the Protestant city councilmen, and it is not clear if he voluntarily left this bequest or not. Perhaps Spoorwater was the more energetic overseer, since building was completed before Codde died in 1610. In any case, being Catholic has always been one of the entrance criteria for this hofje, and even today the members of the hofje do not have to walk far to go to mass.
History of the Hofje van Beresteyn
The Codde hofje merged later with the Hofje van Beresteyn, which was founded in 1684, nearly a century later, by the painter Claes van Beresteyn (ca.1620-1684). It is unclear why Claes van Beresteyn made this bequest in Haarlem, since his father Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn (1548–1625) was a mayor in DelftDelft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
. It is possible that this has to do with his painting career in Haarlem, and the Haarlem painter Pieter Soutman
Pieter Soutman
Pieter Claesz Soutman was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker from Haarlem.- Biography :Soutman was born and died in Haarlem, where he was a contemporary of Frans Hals, Hendrick Gerritsz Pot, and Pieter Claesz, and seems to have been influenced by all three, considering the various...
was a regent. The family portrait of the Beresteyns that was later sold as a Frans Hals in the 1880s is now attributed to Soutman.
The two hofjes had always been run by the same board of regents, but merged their books in 1731. The Hofje van Nicolaas van Beerensteyn was originally built on the Lange Herenstraat at a spot now housing a large parking garage across from the Haarlem railway station.
Both Hofjes are for elderly Catholic women, though Nicolaes van Beresteyn stipulated in his will that his hofje was for both elderly men and women. The hofje seems very unassuming in its current location in the shadow of the Cathedral of Saint Bavo, but it happens to be the wealthiest of all the hofjes in Haarlem. This is because the families of van Codde and van Beresteyn left several paintings that were sold in the 19th century for funding to rebuild, which they did.
The wealthy van Beresteyn family
The largest influx of capital for the hofje came about when the regent's sold a Frans HalsFrans Hals
Frans Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture.-Biography:Hals was born in 1580 or 1581, in Antwerp...
painting to Mathilde Hannah Rothschild in 1882 and later three more Frans Hals
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture.-Biography:Hals was born in 1580 or 1581, in Antwerp...
paintings to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in 1885. The first painting was a portrait of a young girl, Emerantia van Beresteyn, the sister of Nicolaes van Beresteyn, the later founder of half of this hofje. The next two were twin marriage portraits from 1629 of Nicolaes' parents Catharina Both van der Eem and Paulus van Beresteyn (1588–1636).
Finally, they sold a family portrait about 10 years after that, which was attributed to Frans Hals at the time, but has since been attributed to Pieter Soutman
Pieter Soutman
Pieter Claesz Soutman was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker from Haarlem.- Biography :Soutman was born and died in Haarlem, where he was a contemporary of Frans Hals, Hendrick Gerritsz Pot, and Pieter Claesz, and seems to have been influenced by all three, considering the various...
. The Rothschild painting caused a scandal in the Dutch papers and the Hofje was accused of selling National treasure for financial gain. The hoje had copies made of the paintings by
PT Wijngaard which still hang in the regent's room today.
The Hofje today
The current building is from 1968 and is located on the J. Cuyperstraat, near the church and the canal Leidsevaart, in Haarlem. Catholic women 60 years and older are still welcome there.The wealth of the foundation today
The management of the Hofje is in charge of a board that works together with the St Jacobsgodhuis to finance various activities in Haarlem's hofjes, such as the Johan Enschedé HofJohan Enschedé Hof
The Johan Enschedé Hof is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands, on the Korte Begijnestraat. Via a rear entrance it is linked to the Hofje van Bakenes.-Building:...
, Gravinnehof and work on the Frans Loenenhofje
Frans Loenenhofje
The Frans Loenenhofje is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands, on the Witte Heren straat.It was named the "Five room" or Vijfkamer hofje in 1607 after the five new rooms that were built from the proceeds of the will and testament of Frans Loenen ....
. Current projects include studies to discover how the age-old forms of community living in hofjes can withstand the modern age.