Background information:
This relay house, in Den Bosch, has had the original “Telecom Ht” sign on the door again for a few years now. Which, with a little knowledge of the jargon, explains the function of this building, built around 1958. Communication is also very important in the railway industry to function properly. While around the war years this was still done with strategically placed telephones along the track, this was replaced by "Telerail" from the 1970s onwards. The “Telerail” system, which operated nationally from 1989, was replaced by GSM-R on January 1, 2007. It is therefore a bit of a guess for the uninitiated as to what exactly is currently going on in the house. But it will be important. Because despite all those system changes, the “Telecom Ht” relay house has stood the test of time well from a structural point of view.
Architectural details:
This building with an overhanging flat roof covers approximately 30 m2 of surface area in one floor. It has one door, but no windows. The half-brick masonry walls, constructed from sandy-yellow Waal format bricks in half-brick bond, have several high and narrow facade openings that are finished with beautiful bluestone window sills. But those facade openings have never been equipped with glass. With a good 20cm width, that would have been too narrow and, moreover, light was rarely needed indoors, because relays work well in the dark. The facade openings purely have an architectural function, to make the building less anonymous and to blend in better with the neighborhood, where there are mainly many homes and a few offices.
