De Utrecht, Art Nouveau office building in Utrecht, Netherlands.
De Utrecht was a five-story Art Nouveau office building on Leidseweg in Utrecht, built for an insurance company. Its main facade was decorated with carved stone sculptures, while the interior contained paintings and furniture made by local craftspeople.
The insurance company Utrecht commissioned architect Jan Verheul to design the building, which opened in 1902. It was torn down in 1974 to make way for the Hoog Catharijne shopping center.
The building took its name from the insurance company that commissioned it, and its richly decorated facade made it one of the most recognizable addresses on Leidseweg. Today, the stone sculptures that once adorned it are the only physical reminder of what it looked like.
The building no longer exists, but three of its original stone sculptures are on display at the Music Center Vredenburg in Utrecht. Visiting there is the only way to see any physical trace of it today.
Among the rescued sculptures were a so-called insurance angel and two dragons, which originally decorated the facade. These three figures are now displayed at the Music Center Vredenburg and are all that remains of the building's original decoration.
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