- Year built: 1728
- Original function: Dwelling house and office
On the corner of the Hoge Nieuwstraat, next to the building of the Amicitia Society, stands the large patrician house, Huis Vader Tijd. On 23 December 1615 the city sold seven plots on Nijenwerck and Dwerskaeij. The Dwerskaeij, or Dwarskade, is the present-day Vlak. Houses were built on these plots as well. Later, they were replaced by the large buildings Vlak 1 and Vlak 2. Although the monumental frame gable suggests otherwise, it is questionable whether Vlak 2 was ever used as a residence. Archive documents show that there have always been separate houses.
Around 1960, however, the two houses were united and then split into two again in 1997. The building has a three-axis centralrisal with a carved Chronos, or Father Time, above it, showing two coats of arms. On his head he is carrying an hourglass, as a sign of transience and the temporary nature of life. On the wings to the left and right of the hourglass are a bat and an eagle. The bat wing represents the night and offers protection against evil powers, the eagle wing represents the day. Father Time is flanked by two oeils-de-boeuf with Louis XIV ornamentation. An oeil-de-boeuf ('cow's eye') is a small round, oval or octagonal window in the facade.
