Huis Grijsesteijn

One of the family sites that we have often visited is a house at Oudegracht 321 in Utrecht. The story we had from the family history was that my grandfather Johannes Ditmar had owned a bakery in this building before he emigrated to the United States in 1903. We were always a bit unsure about the ownership part and had picked up some clues that maybe he had only worked at a bakery in this building, but seeing this part of my history was always exciting.

One of the surprises of this trip was learning that 12 September was Open Monumentendag. Knowing that the building was owned by the Utrecht Monuments Association, we decided to check whether this building would be open to the public that day. We found a listing for Oudegracht 319, which is the other address we had seen on half the building. In learning the answer for why the building was listed with only this address, we also pieced together the real story behind the bakery and the Ditmar role in it.

One of the unique features of Utrecht, compared to other Dutch cities, is that the water level of the canals has been dropped so that the basements of the buildings open up to the canal level. When Odegracht 319 was undergoing renovation during our last visit, this included the cellars under the building. What was actually open for the day was these cellars, which are now used by Anne Houk de Jong and Willeke Los for Anne's ceramic studio.

 Anne and Linda discussing the different eras of brickwork in the walls.

Willeke (right) with one of the other visitors.

Anne & I, outside the cellar. (I have no idea what I was looking up on the phone, but I know it was part of what we were discussing.)

Here are some additional views of the cellars. The renovation did a great job of leaving old details in place so that they tell the story of the building.

I had written to Anne ahead of time to thank her for opening the building and hosting this event. I told her about the family association with the building. When we arrived, she explained that the building itself was not open, only the cellars, but she had a surprise for us. The back exit of one of the cellars connected to the central staircase for the house, and we were permitted go up into the house. (We asked if she lived in the building, and she said the rent in a historic building on the old canal was very expensive, so no she did not live there.)

Ground floor entry. The other side of the door is Geertstraat, the "side street" that leads to the nearby church.

Exposed brick in the ground floor entry area. The lamps are a reminder that although it's a building which is hundreds of years old, modern people live here.

 The first floor landing with one of the preserved features from the house.

 The central staircase from the 1st floor landing.

 More old details.

 Roof beams on the top floor.

It did not matter to me that I did not get to see the inside of any of the apartments. I was so stoked to have been inside the building that it was more than enough for me. Thank you, Anne!

Here are some more shots from the day.

I love the deep greens and blues that are used to paint the doors on Dutch buildings.

One of the features of Anne's web page is a page dedicated to the building above her studio. It includes a link to a document from the Utrecht Monuments Association that provides even more information. From these sources we learned that the building has been known as Huis Grijsesteijn (Greystone House) since 1544, presumably because it had a facade of grey stone. When this stone was replaced with red brick is unknown, but it already had the brick in 1930 when the building was renovated. That 1930 renovation introduced the colorful shutters that are now on the front wall. Anne told us that it was fashionable at the time to make buildings look like they were from the Netherland's "Golden Age".

The records show that the building has been added onto, with addresses added to go along with the new additions. This explains why we knew it as Oudegracht 321 in addition to 319, and the side door is Geertstraat 1. The building was always associated with industry as well as housing and has had various trades, such as a tinsmith, in ownership/residence. Beginning about 1700, it became a bakery and remained so until 1902 when the last baker died. That baker was Jacobus Antonij van Asch, born in 1815.

I knew that name looked familiar from searching around some Dutch geneology sites, so I went back and looked some more. I learned that my Grandfather, Johannes Ditmar, had worked at the bakery for his father, Jan Willem Ditmar. Jan Willem did not own the bakery, but he married the baker's daughter - Jannigje van Asch. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Jacobus Antonij van Asch was that last baker.

Why didn't Jan Willam or Johannes inherit the bakery when Jacobus died in 1902? We'll probably never know, but in 1903 Johannes moved to the United States and I suspect that this played a major role in the decision.