Fact sheet 75 years of post-war reconstruction in Rotterdam RECONSTRUCTION IN ROTTERDAM RECONSTRUCTION ARCHITECTURE ‘Wederopbouw’, or Reconstruction, is the term used to descri- Rotterdam architects Van den Broek & Bakema, Maaskant & be the process of repairing the damage to our country after Van Tijen, Kraaijvanger, Elffers and other agencies were tas- World War II. Rotterdam was one of the hardest hit cities in the ked with the architectural design of the Basic Plan. Netherlands. The bombing of 14 May 1940 destroyed 24,000 homes, 2,400 shops and The contrast between traditionalist and modern architects another 4,000 buildings, gradually faded and new buildings in Rotterdam were de- almost wiping out the entire signed in typical Reconstruction style, in which commercial, city centre. functional designs were combined with decorative elements. Important Reconstruction landmarks are the bank buildings Parts of Kralingen and along the Blaak, department stores Ter Meulen, C&A, Vroom Noordereiland were also & Dreesmann and De affected. More havoc was Bijenkorf, the Groothan- wreaked in the dockland delsgebouw, Lijnbaan, areas later in the war years, Thalia cinema theatre, and due to an oversight du- the Station Post Office ring an Allied bombing raid and Rotterdam Central on the western part of the Station. This Recon- city in 1943, a further 2,600 struction style is still Aerial of Rotterdam 1946 | photo Aviodrome homes were destroyed. evident in the typical architecture of espe- RECONSTRUCTION PLAN cially the Pannekoek- No stone was left unturned in rebuilding the city. On May straat, Hoogstraat and 18, 1940, city architect Witteveen was commissioned to draw Mariniersweg. up a reconstruction plan. Within ten days, he had drafted a Coolsingel | photo Jan Jesse (DIGitUP) rough outline. The bombing was of course disastrous, but at During the econo- the same time it was an opportunity to reconstruct the city mic boom in the late and solve a number of major urban issues. From the outset, twentieth century much the guiding principle was to completely redesign the centre of the Reconstruction rather than restore the original street grid and repair impor- architecture was de- tant buildings. The 144 buildings which could have been molished or came un- renovated were instead demolished; only the Sint-Laurenskerk der threat. At the same church, Town Hall, the Post Office and the Schielandshuis were time, this architectural preserved. style experienced a resurgence in interest Initially, little progress was made in implementing the plans and after 1999 a num- and during the subsequent war years, construction all but ber of Reconstruction ground to a halt. However, the rubble was cleared and used to buildings were granted fill in watercourses like Schiekade, Blaak and Schiedamse Vest. protected status as a Lijnbaan | photo Jan Jesse (DiGitUP) city monument. At the end of the war Witteveen’s monumental, picturesque city plan was abandoned under the sway of Van Nelle director ENTHUSIASM Kees van der Leeuw. The latter commissioned the construction Not only was the Reconstruction an important economic and of the world famous Van Nelle factory, a textbook example of social phase for Rotterdam, with distinctive architecture and the Modern Movement (Nieuwe Bouwen) and currently the innovative urban development, it was also a time of optimism. principal industrial monument in the Netherlands. Witteveen’s Reconstruction in Rotterdam was welcomed by the public with assistant, Van Traa, signed the new Basic Plan. The new centre great enthusiasm. was radically redesigned and featured Coolsingel as the central boulevard. Reconstruction Day is celebrated on 18 May every year to commemorate the date Witteveen began his reconstruction One of the new urban planning concepts was the separation plan in 1947. From 1946, annual Reconstruction tours were or- of functions, with offices, shops and other centre functions ganised to take interested parties along the various constructi- located in the city centre and housing in the outlying suburbs. on projects by bus. Major exhibitions such as Rotterdam Straks The Basic Plan was primarily a road scheme and legal frame- (1947), De Maasstad in de Steiger (1949) and Ahoy (1950) were work which provided room for different interpretations. A new well attended. road network meant more efficient traffic flow. New elements in the plan were shared business premises and avant-garde De Doelen, the first cultural building to be built after the war, shopping centre De Lijnbaan, the first traffic free pedestrian opened on 18 May 1966. It was considered the final piece in boulevard in Europe. Many of these new structures included the Reconstruction of Rotterdam. loading and unloading streets. Reconstruction tours | photo City Archive Rotterdam Timeline: 75 milestones from 75 years of reconstruction 1940 28 May 1946 1951 Founding of the Argus 14 May 1940 Cornelis van Traa’s Basic Plan for the artists’ group At around half past one in the afternoon, Reconstruction of Rotterdam is adopted Members are painters Jan Burgerhout, the German Luftwaffe starts bombing by the City Council. Kees French, Jan Goedhart, Charles Rotterdam centre, Kralingen, Proveniers- Kemper, Louis van Roode, Ed van Zanden wijk, Oude Noorden and Liskwartier. The September 1946 and sculptor Huib Noorlander. The group Blitz destroys more than 30,000 buildings The City Council inaugurates the first existed until 1964. and kills 800-900 people. Rotterdam governing board of the Rotterdamse Kunst- capitulates. stichting, (Rotterdam Arts Council). The 15 May 1953 Council’s aim is to stimulate the artistic sec- Unveiling of Ossip Zadkine’s sculpture, 18 May 1940 tor in Rotterdam by organising activities, Verwoeste Stad, on Plein 1940. The sculp- On orders from the German army, the City advising the government and encoura- ture was a gift from De Bijenkorf director Council commissions director Witteveen ging artistic expression in order ‘to develop Van der Wal. of the City Building Control Department a healthy and vibrant art scene’. to clear up the rubble and rebuild the 3 July 1953 city. The estimated damage is 420 million 1947 Opening of the Groothandelsgebouw, Dutch guilders (over three billion euros A temporary theatre is set up in the Aert built to compensate for the loss of com- in today’s money). On 30 October it is van Nesstraat, in an almost desolate mercial premises during the war. Desig- declared that “Virtually all of the rubble environment. Rotterdam’s major theatre, ned by Van Tijen en Maaskant architects, has been cleared.” De Groot Schouwburg (architect Verheul, it is an ‘American-style multifunctional, 1887), had been partially damaged and multi-tenant building’ with a surface although it could have been rebuilt, it is area of 120,000 m2, making it the largest completely razed in the demolition frenzy. building in the Netherlands. In 1988 the temporary theatre is replaced by the ‘Kist van Quist’, a box-shaped buil- October 1953 ding designed by Wim Quist. Opening of the Lijnbaan, designed by Van den Broek and Bakema architects. Of 1950 particular interest is that the two intersec- ting streets are both traffic-free. It is the 17 November 1950 first pedestrian promenade in Europe. Following an ‘in-depth study of self-ser- vice systems in America’, the first Ameri- 1955 can-style supermarket is opened on the Hosting of Expo E55, the National Energy Rubble | photo Johan de Goederen (DiGitUP) south side of the river. Manifestation, with Rotterdam as the ‘dri- ving force’ of reconstruction in post-war 31 March 1941 June, August 1950 Netherlands. The first pile is driven into the ground for Rotterdam Ahoy! Manifestation. This port the Rotterdamsche Bank on Coolsingel, exhibition, organised to celebrate the 1957 on the grounds of the partially destroyed restoration of the Rotterdam harbours, In 1957 Jaap and Arie Valkhoff open the Coolsingel Hospital. It is also the symbolic is a showcase for Dutch and Rotterdam Oasis bar, which existed until 1967. It is first pile for the Reconstruction of Rotter- ingenuity. The exhibition is held near the the venue of the levenslied, a characteris- dam after the bombing of May 1940. city centre. tic genre of melancholic Dutch folk songs, sung by artists from around the country 14 February 1942 1951 who come to Oasis to give spontaneous Without any further ceremony the Maas- New residential neighbourhoods, such performances. Jaap Valkhoff became tunnel, the first underground tunnel in as northern Kleinpolder and Overschie ex- famous for his songs about Rotterdam, the Netherlands and the longest in Euro- pansion plan, are developed by ‘idealistic including the Feyenoord classic Hand in pe, is opened for all traffic. The escalators urban planner’ Lotte Stam-Beese. These hand, kameraden. are ready and the first cars are registered areas are designed to incorporate space, on 1 April 1942. community gardens and playgrounds. 21 May 1957 1970 Unilever building, a viewing point on the Opening of the new Rotterdam Central Organisation of C70 manifestation. Where Maas and the Doric columns. Station. Architect: Sybold van Ravesteyn. previous manifestations focused on rebuilding the port and industrial centre 1979 10 December 1958 of Rotterdam, this time the event highligh- A group of Rotterdam designers launch The first pile for the Euromast is driven ted recreation and leisure activities. The Hard Werken, a magazine that focuses on into the ground in anticipation of the city centre is showcased as an attractive art, culture, urban development, theatre Floriade Manifestation in 1960. place to live rather than exclusively as a and ‘political squabbling’. working city. 1959 1980 Construction of the SS Rotterdam, one 1970 of the most famous post-war passenger Feyenoord wins the European Cup and 1981 ships. Sailing in the service of the Holland the World Cup. Opening of the new Willemsbrug bridge America Line, this ship was later renova- by Queen Beatrix and her son Prince ted and opened to the public in 2010 at 1970 Willem-Alexander, more than a century the Derde Katendrechtse Hoofd.