Untitled (1950) Hans Petri
In 1950, a bank of the Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappij opened at 34 Blaak, founded in 1824 on the initiative of King Willem I to revive trade. The building was designed by the Rotterdam architects AA van Nieuwenhuyzen and Chris Elffers, who simultaneously worked on the design for the Rotterdam office of the Nationale Levensverzekeringsbank on Schiekade. The bank building, together with the adjacent bank buildings Blaak 28 and Blaak 40, is one of the first buildings to be built after the war. In 2010, the building was given the status of a national monument, but it has long ceased to be a bank building. There is a side entrance to the building in Posthoornstraat, which is adorned by two figures made by sculptor Hans Petri. On the left masonry pillar is a 'money carrier'. He wears a cape and has a coin in his left hand, a (money) bag in his right hand. The figure on the right is the 'keeper of the keys'. This figure also wears a cape, but also a large key on a chain. They both look down towards the entrance.
Hans Petri (Weerselo, 1919 - Dordrecht, 1996) graduates from the Rotterdam art academy, after which he works as a graphic artist and sculptor. After the reconstruction he received many commissions for public space, especially in Dordrecht and Rotterdam, but also elsewhere in the country. He mainly worked in stone, later sometimes in concrete. After creating freestanding sculptures and reliefs, he has been active as an environmental designer, with his 'eggs' at Erasmus University being an important example. These and other works have been demolished, several others still remain in the public space. In 2001 he was posthumously given a major retrospective exhibition in the Dordrechts Museum.