"This remarkable and in many ways unique structure, first outlined in 1924, is commonly regarded as the masterpiece of Dudok's brilliant but decidedly anti-avant-guardist career...Set in relatively extensive grounds and rendered entirely in brick, the free-standing mass and landscaped surrounds of this structure immediately announce the garden-city character of Hilversum. Despite the asymmetric, Neoplastically derived composition, the main representative elements were both traditional and monumental; the high clock tower over the entry and the three symmetrical windows signifying the council chamber."

— Kenneth Frampton and Yukio Futagawa. Modern Architecture 1851-1945. p256.

"Hilversum's Town Hall is, if anything, a composition of hollow spaces and volumetrical elements, sometimes dramatically juxtaposed, at other parts harmoniously blended in. The building is at the same time monumental if not pathetic, romantic and highly personal. Its immediate public acceptance stems from the fact that it is one of the very few buildings of its period whose symbolic content is adequate to its function and the constructive form."

— Global Architecture 58, p4

The Creator's Words

"Monumentality is the most pure expression of the human sense of harmony and order. It stresses the most essential not only in the material but above all in the spiritual sense. That is the reason why it is not limited to splendour and why a small object can also be monumental."

— Global Architecture 58, p3.