The Coomanshof is a former

hofje {{inline refs needed, date=May 2012 A hofje (diminutive of 'hof', 'court') is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. Hofjes have existed since the Middle Ages. A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). T ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, on the Witte Heren straat. It was named the "mercerie" or ''cramersneringhe'' after the local merchant's guild that existed from 1407. The small guild house dates from 1644. The hofje that grew around it is typical of the type of occupational hofjes such as the

Brouwershofje The Brouwershofje is a hofje on the Tuchthuisstraat in Haarlem, Netherlands. History The Hofje was founded by the Haarlem Guild of Beer brewers, one of the most powerful guilds in Haarlem. It was initially named the ''St. Maartenshofje'' after th ...

that grew out of the local Brewer's guild. The patron saint of the merchants was

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

, also the patron saint of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. When the guilds were disbanded under Napoleon in 1798, the hofje was rented out until 1854 when it was sold. When the local head of the archives

Adriaan Justus Enschedé Adriaan Justus Enschedé (20 June 1829 in Haarlem – 19 March 1896 in Haarlem)P.C. Molhuysen en P.J. Blok (red.)Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 3(Dutch) Adriaan Justus Enschedé was a Haarlem Archivist, collector, owner of th ...

bought the property in 1871, he demolished the eleven small hofje houses but kept the guild house as a folly for his garden. His main home was on the Zijlstraat. Enschede also found the original gable stone and had it reinstalled in 1871 above the doorway in the Witte Herenstraat.

Paradijsje

In 1950

Godfried Bomans Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans (2 March 1913 – 22 December 1971) was a Dutch author and television personality. Much of his work remains untranslated into English. Life and career Godfried Bomans was born in The Hague and grew up in and aroun ...

began his

Teisterbant club The Teisterbant club was the name of an artists' society in Haarlem that flourished between 1950 and 1973. In 1949 the Haarlem writer Godfried Bomans sent out a pamphlet inviting "art practitioners, art-lovers and those interested in art" to join ...

on the Grote Markt and he was able to rent this guild house and garden as a summer meeting place, which he dubbed "Het Paradijsje" (little paradise). In 1951 the artist

Anton Heyboer Anton Heyboer (; 9 February 1924 – 9 April 2005) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. Biography According to the informational booklet "Anton Heyboer: Timeless Work", he was born on the small island of Pulau Weh in the north of Sumatra as th ...

moved in and lived there with his wife Elsa and they were later joined by the sculptor Piet van Heerden and his wife. In the summer months Heyboer hung lanterns in the branches of the orchard in the yard and served fish from

IJmuiden IJ_(digraph).html" ;"title="n IJ (digraph)">n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. > IJmuiden () is a port city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality ...

to the Teisterbant club members. As an artist he was inspired by the old tiles on the walls and floor of the small guild house and motifs from the floor tiles can be seen in his etchings from this period. In 1955 the garden with the small guild house was bought back from its owner by the city of Haarlem and it was restored in 1962. Today it serves as an artist's workshop and can be reached through the gate of the children's playground called "Paradijsje".Speeltuin het Paradijsje

References

* ''Haarlems hofjes'', Dr. G. H. Kurtz, Schuyt & Co C.V., Haarlem, 1972, * Exhibition booklet ''Anton Heyboer: De Haarlemse Jaren'', by Pina Cardia, Historisch Museum Haarlem, 2013 {{Hofjes in Haarlem Hofjes 1644 establishments in the Dutch Republic Rijksmonuments in Haarlem