Glaspaleis (Glass Palace)

The Glaspaleis is one of the finest examples of Dutch modernist architecture and the reason many architecture enthusiasts make a specific trip to Heerlen. Built in 1935 as a department store for the Schunck company, it is a seven-storey steel and glass structure that looks as contemporary today as it did when it was completed. The extensive use of glass was a deliberate statement: light was to flood every corner of the building, making it as unlike the dark coal-mining town around it as possible.

Today the building functions as Schunck, a cultural centre housing a library, exhibition spaces, a cinema, and performance venues. The interior is open to the public, and even a short visit is worth making — the central atrium, the stairways, and the relationship between the transparent facade and the street outside are all architecturally satisfying.

Guided tours of the building are available and recommended if you have an interest in the history of modernist design. The cafe inside the building is a reasonable place for coffee while looking at the architecture.

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The Glaspaleis was commissioned by the Schunck department store in 1935 and designed by Frits Peutz, a Heerlen architect responsible for an extraordinary concentration of modernist buildings in this one small city. Peutz used a steel frame that allowed the facades to be almost entirely glass — remarkable for the time and still striking today. During the Second World War the building was used by German occupiers; after the war it served as a department store until 1967, then lay empty for decades before being converted into a cultural centre. The spiral staircase in the central atrium is worth seeing in its own right.