The Central Boerenleenbank

Coöperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank' can still be read in gold letters above the entrance to the stately building at Dommelstraat 9in Eindhoven.  From 1911 to 1962, this national monument was the headquarters of the Boerenleenbank.
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Towards the end of the 19th century, the first cooperative lending banks were established in Utrecht and Eindhoven,  which pooled the resources of agricultural associations. This enabled them to provide loans for agricultural projects in the poorest parts of the Netherlands.
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In 1909, Jan Stuyt, a popular architect at the time, was commissioned to build this bank, and he designed a building in the so-called 'um 1800' style. As the name suggests, architects working in this style believed that the peak of good taste had to be in the 1800s. Stuyt opted for a design in which ornamentation is limited to the front façade. Above the stately entrance, a large round window is placed decorated with garlands of flowers and the coats of arms of Eindhoven, the Netherlands and the agricultural cooperatives whose money the bank managed.
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In the 1930s, the building was extended with a villa at the rear of the bank. The appearance of the villa is in the same 1800s style as the building, and the interior of the 1910 building blends seamlessly with the 1930 extension.
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The bank remained in use for decades until the Eindhoven Cooperative Bank merged with the modern Rabobank in 1972. Since 2003 the major part of the building is used as a shelter for homeless people and the associated office of the "Leger Des Heils".
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The office building of the Coöperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank in Eindhoven is not only one of the oldest cooperative lending banks in the Netherlands, but also an architectural landmark in the centre of Eindhoven.