Frits J. Peutz (April 7th, 1896 - October 24th, 1974) was a Dutch architect. Peutz was born in Uithuizen in Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. In 1910 he was sent to the Rolduc boarding school in Kerkrade in the province of Limburg for his higher education. In 1914 he graduated at the HBS, an old type of Dutch high school. Thereafter he studied civil engineering in Delft. In 1916 he changed to architecture. In 1920, while still not graduated, he returned to Limburg to settle as an independent architect in the town of Heerlen, where the booming coal mining industry brought him many commissions. Peutz played a major role in transforming Heerlen in a true, modern city. In 1925 he received his degree in architecture.
Peutz incorporated various historical styles in his work. He had a special affinity with the modern movement, with his own distinct interpretation. There is a big contrast in style between his secular work and his much more traditional churches.
During his lifetime he was a well-known figure, but because he mainly worked in and around Heerlen, a city that lost its status as an industrial centre in the subsequent decades, he has been somewhat forgotten. However his work has been lately rediscovered. The Glaspaleis, one of his major works, was proclaimed one of the world's 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century. Wiel Arets' - a contemporary Dutch architect also from Heerlen - produced several publications on Peutz' architecture in the past ten years. Arets was also responsible for the complete restoration of the Glaspaleis.
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