(b Rotterdam, 18 Feb 1889; d Laren, 23 Nov 1983). Dutch architect and designer. After studying civil engineering in Delft (1906–12), van Ravesteyn worked for the Dutch railways. There he was concerned with construction, but from 1921 he was also active as an architect. He designed interiors such as that of the Rademacher-Schorer House (1924) in Utrecht, which was strongly influenced by De Stijl, and in 1925 his furniture was part of the Dutch entry to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, in Paris. The Vicomte de Noailles consequently commissioned bedroom furnishings from van Ravesteyn for his villa in Hyères (Var). The first independent buildings by van Ravesteyn, produced from 1925, were utilitarian railway buildings, including signal boxes, water-towers and the Feyenoord Freight Office (1929) in Rotterdam. They are practical, reinforced-concrete buildings, but the detailing shows that his attention went beyond the merely functional. His interest in the artistic aspects of construction increased after 1930, and curved lines and volumes became characteristic of his architecture, as in his own house (1932) or the rebuilt Centraal Station (1937–40), both in Utrecht. The rebuilt office (1937) of the insurance company Tiel-Utrecht, in Utrecht, led to a split from his Functionalist colleagues, with the almost baroque nature of his architecture attracting much criticism. The most telling examples of this approach are the Blijdorp Zoo (1937–41) in Rotterdam and the Holland van 1859 insurance office (1937–8) and Kunstmin Theatre (1939–40), both in Dordrecht. After World War II, van Ravesteyn developed his decorative style further, but without his former conviction. Railway stations in Gouda (1949), ’s Hertogenbosch (1952) and Nijmegen (1952) display dry, historicist decorative qualities. An exception is Rotterdam’s Centraal Station (1957), which possesses the dynamism of his earlier work.

• Ravesteyn, Sybold van
  • Architectengroep de 8
  • Verheul, Johannes Dirkz.