18. Serving room

This is the room where food prepared in the kitchen was served through the serving hatch by one of the maids. Before she served the food, she would have washed her hands and perhaps glanced in the mirror to make sure she looked alright. The laundry chute on the left of the door runs through the whole house. Used tablecloths, napkins and teacloths were thrown in here by the servants and later sorted for washing on the ground floor. The servants had to be up at 7.30 in the morning to get the breakfast ready and put the stove on. Life was one long cycle of washing and scrubbing, preparing tea, coffee and meals and then clearing up afterwards. The serving hatch now contains a teapot and cream jug from the family collection.

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Sonneveld House is one of the best-preserved houses in the Dutch Functionalist style. The villa was designed in 1933 by architecture firm Brinkman and Van der Vlugt for Albertus Sonneveld, a director of the Van Nelle Factory.