Dutch Modernism 4 - Fabriek Van Nelle a World Heritage site

During my recent visit to Rotterdam, I was thrilled to be able to visit the Van Nelle factory on the outskirts of the city. The former factory which now houses creative businesses and is used as an events venue was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.  Built between 1925 and 1931, it is probably the modernist masterpiece of iconic Dutch architects, Johannes Brinkman and Leendert Van de Vlugt. You don't have to take my word for this, but perhaps Le Corbusier's 1932 description of it as  "the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age" might convince you! 

The company was founded in 1782 when Johannes and Hendrika van Nelle opened a store in Rotterdam selling coffee, tea and tobacco. In the 19th century the business developed into a factory operation, processing materials imported from the family's plantations in the Java which was then a Dutch colony. By the 1920's the company had outgrown its premises and co-owner Kees van de Leeuw commissioned Brinkman and van der Vlugt to build a new factory. The location for the new building was just outside the centre of the city but with easy access to roads, railways and canals. Visitors from Amsterdam arriving in Rotterdam by train get a good view of the factory, demonstrating its closeness to the railway line.

The factory is supported on a structure of reinforced concrete with facades composed of glass and steel. The preponderance of glass both externally and on the interior partitions and the use of concrete mushroom columns to facilitate this was a response to the client's brief for a modern, progressive work space maximising the use of natural light and providing a comfortable working environment. During my tour of the building it was explained that it was also felt to be beneficial to be able to be observed whilst working, showing that you were pulling your weight and not slacking. Mmm.

This is a very large building, running to 8 storeys and 300 metres in length. Coffee, tea and tobacco were processed in different areas. Raw materials were delivered to the top floors where processing commenced and moved down a floor at a time to complete each stage of the process until they were shipped out from the ground floor and taken to retailers. A series of bridges link the main building and the former stores opposite. These are sloping and were used to transport goods between the different parts of the complex, making use of gravity to do so.

In keeping with the spirit of modernism, the factory was designed with the wellbeing of the workforce in mind. Showers were provided for the workers at a time when very few, if any of them would have had such facilities at home. A cinema, library, light filled cafe and sports facilities were also provided for the workers. This approach was driven in part by van de Leeuw's interest in and commitment to Theosophy. De Leeuw was a close friend of philosopher and one time potential "messiah" of the movement, Jiddu Krishnamurti. However, the altruism only extended so far and the tennis courts in the factory grounds were only for the use of managers! At its height more than 2,000 people worked here - the equivalent of a large village or small town. 

The workforce was segregated with men and women performing different tasks and working separately. The magnificent double staircase pictured in this post was designed to accommodate this regime with one set of stairs for women and one for the men. The reasoning for this was that segregation would prevent romance budding in the workplace and distracting the workers from their labour. How effective this was I don't know but it's not hard to imagine meaningful glances being passed across the central stairwell that led to other things later on!

During my stay in Rotterdam I also visited the Chabot Museum which is housed in the former Kraaijeveld House, another modernist gem. A film was being shown there that included footage from the construction of the factory and of the staff at work. The female staff wore very business-like overalls that would not be out of place in a laboratory and almost all of them sported the fabulously glamorous Marcel wave hairstyle. As well as keeping the genders apart, other measures were taken to remind employees of their social status. Important guests and buyers from retail outlets would be received in a part of the building separate to the parts frequented by the workers. The film also covers de Leeuw's interest in Theosophy. Incidentally de Leeuw, Bertus Sonneveld and Matthijs de Bruyin, also company directs were so impressed with Van de Vlugt's work that they commissioned him to build houses for them. The Sonnenveld House still stands and can be visited today.

The factory came through the Second World War unscathed and over time, the company diversified and included cigarettes, instant puddings and rice amongst their products, continuing to produce goods until 1996. The following year Eric Gude, an expert in converting former industrial sites began working with Wessel de Jonge, a conservation expert in order to preserve the building. Conservation began in 1999 and in addition to its UNESCO World Heritage Status it is also a National Monument in the Netherlands.

It is still possible to see advertisements for Van Nelle products including a huge street sign I noticed whilst strolling in central Rotterdam. It is also possible to find marketing materials and product labels from the 1930's onwards in flea markets around the Netherlands and I picked some up in Amsterdam a few years ago. Visits to the factory can be arranged by contacting Archiguides.

Unfortunately the dark skies and driving sleet  on the day of my visit impacted on my pictures - low light photography is not my forte! A good reason to return in the summer.

Some more pictures...

Dutch Modernism 3 - Kiefhoek, Rotterdam's modernist social housing project

There are several examples of social housing estates in Europe, constructed in the 1930's and designed to improve the living conditions of working class people. Rotterdam has one of the most famous examples of this development - the Kiefhoek Estate, originally constructed between 1925 and 1930 and designed by the iconic Dutch architect J.J.P.Oud. 

The Kiefhoek included 300 dwellings, a church, two shops, a hot water service and outside playground spaces to provide facilities for the many children that lived in the original development. The estate's plan is based on rows of standardised two storey homes with up to three bedrooms. Oud took an extremely functional approach to designing the dwellings, all of which have white rendered facades but adding a splash of colour with the red doors, yellow window frames and blue gates that are a clear reference to the De Stijl school of design. The only other external decoration occurs on homes at the end of streets where a small rounded balcony is positioned above the front door. 

The buildings that visitors see today are not the original structures. Over the years the buildings deteriorated, primarily due to the lack of robust foundations and between 1989 and 1995, the estate was demolished and rebuilt. The smaller dwellings were combined to adapt them to modern day living and to make more space available. Architect Wytze Patijn was responsible for the re-design which maintains the original exterior features, including the iconic and much photographed curved shop units at the end of the Kiefhoek's longest streets. The units are no longer used as shops, serving instead as spaces for community activity. They would make great gallery spaces. Today's residents have access to a large selection of shops a short walk away on the main road.

It is still possible to see how the estate's earlier residents lived as one of the buildings has been reconstructed as a single unit, true to the original design and to act as a museum. The tiny two storey dwellings, less than four metres wide accommodated a living room, small kitchen, toilet and up to three bedrooms. Dutch working class families could be large and many of the units would have been home to families with up to six children sleeping in bunk beds, some with three levels! The tiny ground floor lounge included a storage cupboard for food and crockery and it is difficult to see how the larger families could have comfortably sat down together.  However, there is no doubt that the Kiefhoek offered far superior housing to that lived in by most Dutch working families during this period, with separate kitchen space including a shallow ceramic sink which would be deemed fashionable today and even some outside space at the rear where vegetables could be grown to help make the family income go further.

The upper floor was reached by a spiral staircase. In the museum, the steps and the bannister are painted yellow, again referencing De Stijl, and the colour is set off by the natural light that floods in via the windows at the top of the stairs. This natural light is supplemented by a sliding frosted glass window that separates the stairwell from the third bedroom - an ingenious touch demonstrating the thought that went into the design process. Oud's original proposals also included a shower under the stairs, a folding ironing board and an extra sink in the hall, but these were rejected.

As well as the two shops and playgrounds, the estate had its own church. Also designed by Oud, it is a modernist box with the same white rendered facade as the homes but with some additional decorative features, including the beautiful stained glass windows and the stylised lettering on the front which includes its date of construction - 1929. The stained glass designs are echoed in the windows of one of the houses opposite - a window that also has two very alive and large parrots on display! 

The estate can be visited at any time but to see inside the museum, its necessary to make an appointment and take a guided tour from Rotterdam's UrbanGuides who can also make arrangements for tours of other architectural landmarks in the city.

You might also like Dutch Modernism 1 - Rotterdam's Cafe de Unie , another of J.J.P. Oud's works, Modernism and Elegant Swimming Pool and Red Vienna which includes the Werkbund Siedlung (where there is another Oud building), Karl Mark Hof and Raben Hof estates in Vienna and Czech Modernism 3 - Prague's Baba Estate.

Dutch Modernism 2 - The Kraaijeveld House in Rotterdam's Museum Park

Rotterdam's Museum Park is home to some of the Netherlands' premier museums and cultural attractions. Amongst them are a number of villas designed and built in the modernist style in the 1930's as homes for wealthy Dutch families. Most of these villas now serve other functions. The Chabot Museum which houses the works of Dutch expressionist painter and sculptor Henk Chabot, began life as the Kraaijeveld House and was built for the family of the same name in 1938.

C.H. Kraaijeveld, director of the Volker Dredging Company commissioned a modern white villa to be built on the corner of Jongkindstraat in late 1937. His son J. Kraaijeveld developed the early plans before architect Gerrit W. Baas was employed to find a suitable plot for the house and to work up detailed proposals. Baas' skills were in-demand and already working on other projects, he secured the help of Leonard Stokla, another Rotterdam architect to assist him on this additional commission. Stokla had been involved in the design of a functionalist building on Coolsingel, the city's main shopping street and was sympathetic to Baas' modernist principles. This may explain the fantastic modernist design that resulted from their co-operation, despite Mrs. Kraaijeveld's request for a "not too modern" house!

Between them the architects produced one of the most beautiful residential buildings in the Netherlands, and probably in the whole of Europe. The first thing that visitors see when approaching the building is the delicious curved protruding balcony with its protective shelf which gives shelter in bad weather and also allows light to stream though from above through a series of small openings. When the final designs were submitted for planning permission, this wonderful feature drew objections for the nearby Bojimans Museum, but thankfully Baas refused to omit the curve or even to compromise by replacing the closed balustrade with an open railing. Good for him - and for us. Through much manoeuvring and possibly some calling in of favours by the client, the committee eventually approved the plans and construction began on 9th May 1938.

Although strictly a modernist, Baas was clearly not averse to adding some non-functional, decorative features as evidenced by the rounded bay window on the side of the building and the black tiled plinth which is in dramatic contrast to the clean white of the rest of the exterior. The architects also dealt with the interior design of the villa. This included oak panelling in the living spaces, built in furniture in colours that complemented the overall design and advising on fabrics furnishings and lighting. The furniture included tubular steel designs and Giso lamps whilst a sundial was placed in the front garden. These matters were not included in the original brief. Clearly the temptation to expand one's brief is not a recent phenomenon.

The house came through the 1940 bombing of Rotterdam without damage - although doubtless the basement bomb shelter was used during the attack. The family lived in the villa until 1969 when it was sold to the Contact Group for the Metalworking Industry (CWM). During the time that the company occupied the villa almost all of the original internal features disappeared. The new owners also extended the property, adding a sympathetically designed additional floor for more office space. The extension was designed by Ernest Groosman and was implemented in 1975. 

The building changed hands again in 1991 when a Mr and Mrs Grootveld-Paree acquired it, planning to use it as a museum for the works of Henk Chabot. Further internal modifications were made to enable the villa to fulfil its new function but these were carried out sensitively with for example, some of the plant for the necessary environmental controls being located on the roof, hidden from public view. These works also included elements of restoration, dealing with long standing issues of damp, leakage and cracks, replacing many of the glass bricks and repairing the steel window frames.  

February in Rotterdam can be cold, wet and bleak. On the day of my visit the skies were cloudy and grey but with occasional breaks of sunshine that showed the former Kraaijeveld house in all its glory. I must return to Rotterdam to see the building in the summer light.

The museum puts on temporary exhibitions as well as exhibiting Chabot's works. It has a small shop that offers a number of books, postcards and other items of memorabilia for sale. When I visited last week a short film showing the construction of another iconic modernist Rotterdam building - the Van Nelle factory - was being shown. I managed to visit the factory before eating Rotterdam and will write about it separately.  

Dutch Modernism 1 - Rotterdam's Cafe De Unie

Cafe de Unie opened in 1925 on Coolsingel, in the centre of Rotterdam. The striking facade with its bright blue, red and yellow colours is a typical De Stijl design, bringing to mind the works produced by artist Piet Mondrian in the 1920's.  Cafe de Unie was the work of J.J.P. Oud who was commissioned by Rotterdam Municipal Housing to design a temporary structure to plug a gap between two larger nineteenth century buildings. It was intended that the building would stand for ten years and then be demolished.

Strikingly modern, the building was in sharp contrast to its neighbours and was not well received by everyone. Architect, painter and designer J. Verheul was particularly offended, going so far as to say "a more outrageous disfigurement of a street front is in my view inconceivable". Fortunately this was not the opinion of all of Rotterdam's residents and the bright colours, stylised lettering, illuminated signage and vertical letterbox, the cafe attracted a loyal following.

De Unie outlived its intended ten years but was destroyed during the German bombing of May 14th 19401 that reduced much of the city to rubble. However, that was not the end for the cafe and in the 1970's, discussion started about re-creating the building. A proposal was developed to rebuild on Oude Binnenweg but in 1986 it was reconstructed at Mauritsweg 35. For a number of years the cafe also delivered a programme of cultural activity in the auditorium at the rear of the building.

Oud was one of the leading modernist architects of the 1920's and 1930's having been one of the participants at the Weissenhofsiedlung exhibition in Stuttgart in 1927 and was considered to be in the same league as Le Corbusier, van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. Following the Weissenhofsiedlung exhibition which modelled a new approach to social housing, Oud was responsible for a working class housing project in Rotterdam - the Kiefhoek estate completed in 1930 and which I will write about separately. 

In later years his work attracted criticism for his use of decorative features, felt by some to be in conflict with the spirit of modernism.  It is interesting that Oud had already left the De Stijl group by the time he designed the cafe's facade, having quarrelled with Theo van Doesburg, the group's leader. He also designed another building in this style - the manager's hut at Oud Mathenesse. The hut was also intended to be temporary but still stands and although less well known than de Unie, it is considered to be a textbook example of the De Stijl movement.  

Although the original building is gone, the new de Unie gives visitors the opportunity to see something of 1920's Rotterdam. And just as important, I enjoyed my coffee and cinnamon biscuits there earlier this week...