Gallery and kitchens

6 Gallery (gelderije)

Also, spelled galdery; modern spelling is galerij.

We don't know who was responsible for the decisions that affected the architecture of the Gulden Hoofd. When it came to the back half of this property, they had several options.

They could have built the kitchen at the end of the main house and left the rest open for the courtyard. That would have meant that the main living and dining room of the main house, between the shop in front of it and the kitchen behind it, would have had no windows.

The privy was a separate decision. It could have adjoined the kitchen or it could have been a separate structure.

After they decided to put the kitchen at the far back, that left the courtyard between them. Both the living/dining room and the kitchen could have windows looking out on it. However, that meant carrying food back and forth across the courtyard in all weathers. The solution was to attach an overhang the courtyard's southern wall to protect against the rain and wind. That covered corridor was the gallery.

We don't know the extent to which it was closed in with a wall, but the contents listed in the inventory suggest that it was at least party closed. Did the wall have a door in it, opening to the courtyard? Windows? Was it even more open, like a portico? We can see from paintings what other houses had, but we don't know anything more about the Gulden Hoofd's.

The tables and chairs suggest that the table's leaf could have been dropped when it was in the gallery during the winter but raised when it was taken outdoors during the summer. It is not clear why a stove (stoof) would be on the gallery. It could have been a foot warmer. If it were a kiln used by Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch word is oven. However, the notary did not necessarily make that distinction. On the other hand, if it were Leeuwenhoek's, why did his daughter keep it there for twenty years after his death unless it had another use?

Making Maria's inventory, the notaries listed household goods in the gallery on page 31 (right; click to enlarge).

1 drop-leaf table (hangoortafel)

1 small serving table (schenktafeltje) with 1 tray (blaadje) on it

3 chairs

1 stove (stoof)

7 Front kitchen (voorste keuken)

Until 1708, this was the only kitchen, at the back of the property. The only place for a window was next to the door to the gallery. The hearth, not to waste the heat on the neighbors' kitchen, would have been on the wall shared with the the privy (#12). That wall also had a door.

The knife sharpening board (slijpplank) (left sidebar; click to enlarge) was wood but with water, sand, and a gritty powder, the cook would have keep her knives ready to prepare dinner. The paintings by Maes show some of the objects in the inventory: pots, jars, tin plates, woven baskets, wooden buckets, footwarmers, brooms, and brushes.

Making Maria's inventory, the notaries listed the household goods that they found in the kitchen on page 31v (right; click to enlarge).

A candle box (kaarselaade)

A knife sharpening board (slijpplank)

A short ladder (laddertje)

A drinks tray (schenkbakje)

A linen chest (linde kasje)

A lacquered square chest (verlakt vierkant kasje)

1 covered chamber pot inside a stool (stilletje)

3 baskets (mandetjes)

1 white dog (witte hond) ??

1 weather house (weerhuijsje) ??

2 brushes (bostels) ??

2 flat baskets (bennetjes)

1 painted chest (geverfd kasje): 1 cobweb duster (raagshoofd)

3 chairs, some Delft (Delfs aardewerk), 4 large lacquered tea trays (verlakte teebladen), 3 smaller ditto, 3 fenders (gardefeus)

8 Back kitchen (achterkeuken)

In 1708, Leeuwenhoek acquired this back end of a house fronting the Nieuwstraat. It was that house's kitchen and it had a room above. In both rooms, Leeuwenhoek would have sealed the doorway to front part of the house. He then had to built a stairs to the upper floor, creating a separate apartment for the maid. Her bedroom was upstairs. See 22 Back room (achterkamer).

Given the objects that the notaries found in the back kitchen, the maid must have used it kitchen for cleaning, sewing, and other household chores. She was steps away from the kitchen and privy, far closer than Leeuwenhoek and Maria in the main house.

The pin cushion and bobbins that the notaries found suggests that Josina van der Sprenkel, the maid when Maria died, may have made lace or at least repaired it.

Making Maria's inventory, the notaries listed household goods on pages 31v (right; click to enlarge).

3 chairs, 4 foot warmers (stoven)

A fire basket (vuurmande)

2 clothes racks (kleerrakken)

2 clothing boxes (kleerbakjes)

6 coat stands or rods (kleerstokjes)

1 pin (speldwerks) cushion with 10 bobbins (klossen)

3 chair cushions (stoelkussens)

A polished chest (geboend kasje), therein some linen brought here (daarin eenig linden hier voor gebragt)

9 Pottery shelf or cupboard (pottenbank)

The notaries gave this section a title, just as they did the other rooms and spaces, so this cupboard was more than a piece of furniture. Three possibilities:

• under the stairs, which Leeuwenhoek would have built to the maid's room above.

• behind a wooden partition, similar to what Leeuwenhoek did to create his office and laboratory off the upstairs front bedroom. In either case, this cupboard may or may not have had a door.

• the smaller courtyard, in which case, being outdoors, it probably had a door.

Making Maria's inventory, the notaries listed these household goods in the cupboard on page 31v (right; click to enlarge).

Some Delft earthenware (Delfs aardewerk)

2 oil pots (olij kannetjes): 1 teapot (trekpot)

some pots, pans, and junk