WHY THE HOUSE WAS BUILT

View from backyard (Overy et. al. p76)

Truus Schroder commissioned Reitveld to build a home for her and her two children in 1924. Originally, she lived in a large house in Utrecht, but felt unable to remain living in such a big house after her husband’s death in 1923. She called for Reitveld’s help to find a place to rent, but they both failed. Reitveld suggested building a house that would later be sold.

Truus Schroder didn’t want a house that imposed a certain lifestyle onto her, unlike her previous home, but rather she wanted a house that would “allow her to develop her craving for freedom and independence”. (Overy et. al. p8) She also wanted a house that allowed her to be closer to her children. Schroder wanted to live in a house that brought her closer to nature, a house where the boundaries of inside and outside starts to blur. She wanted to live nearer to the “sky, sun, weather, and rain”, and had no intention of living on the ground level. She believed that life should be “transparent and elementary” (Mulder, van Zizil p6) and wanted a house that reflected such an ideology.