Church of St. Joseph, Noordhoek

This little parish church is located in Noordhoek, a little Dutch village near the industrial zone "Moerdijk".

The church fits perfectly in its surrounding environment: It has no huge bell-tower or the appearance of a cathedral, but it looks like a big farmhouse. God among the people, just as Bellot intended! It was Bellot’s first assignment for the Dutch Catholics to build them a church for a parish.

The church has a belt of coloured brick, surrounding the entire church on the outside. At the interior is a similar belt at the same place. From the roof 6 windows reach out. From the inside you can see these windows are placed between the arches of the nave.

The roof has a mosaic of different colours of roofing. It has been restored after he original design of Bellot in the 1990s. On the front wall of the church the construction of the arches is already visible. At the rear end the church has a rectangular sanctuary. The vicary and the school at the sides of the church are designed by Bellot too.

The church is built in 1921-1922 and has been restored in the 1990's. The mosaic on the roof and the yellow windows have been replaced. In the interior all attention is tracked to the altar. The light and the decoration are due to that effect.

On the inside you can clearly see the windows of the nave are placed between the arches and are part of the construction of the building.

The church has no brick ceiling, the wooden parts of the roof rest directly on the walls and arches. Dom Bellot used often wooden ceilings: Its much cheaper to build because the walls can be constructed lighter and supporting parts at the outside are not necessary.

The baptism-chapel is located at the left in the front of the nave.

The pulpit is made out of brick, something we see often at churches designed by Bellot. This pulpit comes with a story: The first priest of this church was a bit taller than Bellot expected, so after the first mass the bricklayers had to return to Noordhoek to enlarge the pulpit with three layers of brick....

This church has been closed for worship in June 2013. Nowadays the villagers use it for meetings and festivals.

We have made a paper-model of this church. You can download it and print it on paper and construct it yourself. For this model, click here.

Photo's: A.W.A. Lukassen and A.A. Lukassen, February 2013