The Terborch Street

The Terborch Street is a street in Zwolle that commemorates the famous Ter Borch artists family. This street has a rich history.

The Ter Borch Year (2025/2026) also does not pass by (In)visible Zwolle. The famous seventeenth-century artist family has been commemorated in Zwolle since the end of the nineteenth century with a street name.

Street Names

Street names are often older names for roads or streets that refer to the past. Since the mid-nineteenth century, official names have been assigned by the municipal government. In Zwolle, this was first done in 1872. The municipal council renamed the Dijk that year to Thorbeckegracht because the birthplace of the minister Thorbecke, who died that year, is located there.

The New Haven Bridge

With the completion of the New Haven Bridge in 1875, access to the city was greatly improved. This elegant iron bridge with a stone pivot was replaced in 1939 by the current New Haven Bridge. With the arrival of the bridge and the station, the Stationsweg became attractive for the wealthy to build and live there. There was more space there than in the crowded city center. The walking route to the city center was also improved by filling in part of the canal, thereby widening the walking path. In the municipal council, a discussion took place in 1880 about a second road from the city to the station parallel to the Stationsweg.

The Terborch Street

In 1882, the municipality constructed the desired new street parallel to the Stationsweg. This road runs through the “Zevenalleetjes” between the built-up canal and the station. The Alleetjes was a kind of public promenade, planted with seven uneven rows of lime trees on the former hornwork outside the Sassenpoort. The year 1882 is memorable because the college of mayor and aldermen came up with a proposal for street naming for several new streets for the first time on its own initiative. The new street through the Alleetjes, parallel to the Stationsweg and extending from the Zeven Alleetjes, was named Terborchstraat. Several other streets, including Oosterlaan, Westerlaan, Ter Pelkwijkstraat, Ter Pelkwijkpark, and Diezerkade, were also named at that time. Gerard ter Borch was honored earlier than other famous Dutch painters who received a street name in the Schildersbuurt in the Dieze district in the 1930s. The individual villa construction on the Terborchstraat consists of large detached villas from the 1870s and 1880s. The villas are built in an eclectic architectural style and surrounded by large gardens or the remnants thereof.

Pruimershuisjes

In this neighborhood, not only villas were built. In 1881, wealthy wine merchant Nicolaas Pruimers built a row of poor houses at the end of the Zeven Alleetjes for the Daniëllastichting. Commonly referred to as the Pruimershuisjes. Around 1950, these houses, which did not meet the demands of modern times, were demolished.

Want to read more?

The recently published Zwols Historical Magazine, 42nd volume, 2025 issue 3, extensively covers the Ter Borch family.

Text: Heritage municipality of Zwolle, Johan Teunis