The Groot Handelsgebouw (GHG) is probably the biggest icon of the reconstruction of Rotterdam. At that time, approximately 388,000 m² of commercial space was lost as a result of the occupation. This was reason enough to start the undertaking of what was the largest building in the Netherlands at the time.
Continuing with the impetus that characterized the entire reconstruction process, the building began to be planned shortly after the liberation of 45, with the intention of not wasting time and thus preventing businesses from choosing to move to other large districts such as Amsterdam.
This company was born then of the agreement between several parties (wholesale commercial companies, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Government) who believed that the new proportions of the city should be reflected in its architecture. Hence, they contacted Huig Maaskant, who already had two similar buildings under his belt (albeit on a smaller scale) in Oostzeedijk and Goudsesingel, to project a large commercial building that could house many companies for a lower construction cost.
Maaskant, who at that time had his office with Willem van Tijen set up, drank from the works he had visited years before in Chicago such as the Merchandise Mart, an Art Deco giant made by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, an office originally founded by Daniel Burnham.
The building is to this day one of the greatest exponents of Dutch brutalism, which, beyond any formal stylism, continued to uphold the classic precepts of the New Objectivity, of which Maaskant and van Tijen had been great defenders and representatives.
On a longitudinal lot, slightly broken towards the centre, the program was distributed in an area of 220 by 85 meters, divided into nine levels with a reinforced concrete structure made in situ. The floors of the building, arranged under this structure with spans of almost seven meters, favoured the adaptability of uses and the interchangeability that could exist between the different tenant companies.
Continuing with the impetus that characterized the entire reconstruction process, the building began to be planned shortly after the liberation of 45, with the intention of not wasting time and thus preventing businesses from choosing to move to other large districts such as Amsterdam.
This company was born then of the agreement between several parties (wholesale commercial companies, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Government) who believed that the new proportions of the city should be reflected in its architecture. Hence, they contacted Huig Maaskant, who already had two similar buildings under his belt (albeit on a smaller scale) in Oostzeedijk and Goudsesingel, to project a large commercial building that could house many companies for a lower construction cost.
Maaskant, who at that time had his office with Willem van Tijen set up, drank from the works he had visited years before in Chicago such as the Merchandise Mart, an Art Deco giant made by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, an office originally founded by Daniel Burnham.
The building is to this day one of the greatest exponents of Dutch brutalism, which, beyond any formal stylism, continued to uphold the classic precepts of the New Objectivity, of which Maaskant and van Tijen had been great defenders and representatives.
On a longitudinal lot, slightly broken towards the centre, the program was distributed in an area of 220 by 85 meters, divided into nine levels with a reinforced concrete structure made in situ. The floors of the building, arranged under this structure with spans of almost seven meters, favoured the adaptability of uses and the interchangeability that could exist between the different tenant companies.
“The huge concrete colossus, which now completely dominates the centre due to its size, is essentially a completely commercial building. It is always the workplace of the always busy businessman. His clean lines speak of sobriety and a sense of reality. "
Van idee tot werkelijkheid, 1953.
The tour of the work is undoubtedly extraordinary. After entering through one of the five entrances distributed throughout its front, we come across wide lobbies supported by octagonal columns of exposed concrete, bathed by the light that enters decimated by the precast concrete parasols of the façade. From there we could go to one of the three patios that interrupt the volume at all levels. There is also the internal street, a mobility route of approximately one kilometre of development between the first three floors that helped supply the more than 150 shops that it housed at its inauguration, crossing the building through arches and tunnels as if from a small commercial city involved.
As we make our way up, we can see the terraces between levels that give rise to small gardens that decorate the internal facades of the building, including the four apartments located on the seventh level (and where Els Stolk, the only resident of the building since 1962), to finally finish them off with an accessible terrace from which to see the entire city and which, at that time, housed the Kriterion movie theatre, located on the façade facing what is now the Station Square.
“The formation of the concrete colossus in the immediate vicinity of the Central Station formed the most spectacular part of the road that would lead to the wholesalers' stronghold of Rotterdam. There was nothing to be seen of the fragile financing network, nor of the operational concerns, but the lifting of the endless formwork, the lifting of the concrete masses, the busy activity around and in a complicated building of unprecedented dimensions, everyone I could see it with your own eyes. "
Leo Ott - Van luchtkasteel tot koopmansburcht.
Between its inauguration by Queen Juliana in 1953 and 1970, the building maintained its functions without major changes. But precisely this last year was when one of the great fires that have affected the city happened, this time originating in the Groot Handelsgebouw. This would not only affect the uses of the building and cause the displacement of many businesses towards the periphery of the city, but would also begin with the decline of the life of the building, which would be saturated with offices in the nineties, but with the use and the lack of maintenance would lose the splendour of that bastion of postwar reconstruction.
In October 1991, in an attempt to recover the memory of the iconic building, the work of Maaskant and van Tijen would be recognized as a municipal historical monument, for ten years later, on the anniversary of its fifty years, to begin a process of renovation The total was carried out by the J. van Stigt study, completed in 2005, and which would also be promoted by the transformation of the Rotterdam centre, with the creation of the new Rotterdam Centraal station by Benthem Crouwel, MVSA and West 8.
A year later, Tak Architecten would be in charge of the maintenance and supervision of the building, to control the adjustments during the change of tenants and advise on the maintenance of the building, and thus prevent what happened in the nineties from happening again.
From then on, the Groot Handelsgebouw has hosted a large number of functions and events that have brought the building and the particular environment that surrounds it back to life. Among the most outstanding we can mention The Stairs to Kriterion, the intervention of the Rotterdammers MVRDV in 2016. A colossal and temporary staircase 29 meters tall and 57 meters long, which connected the Stationsplein with the terrace of the building built with scaffolding in honor of the 75 years of the reconstruction of the city, and which attracted more than 350,000 visitors who enjoyed the views of the renovated town.
NOTES.-
1- Phrase from the promotional pamphlet for the building “Van idee tot werkelijkheid” (From idea to reality), published by Groothandelsgebouw N.V. in 1993.
2- OTT, Leo (1969) Van luchtkasteel tot koopmansburcht: In opdracht van de Raad van commissarissen der Groothandelsgebouwen N. V., P. 34. Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar.
2- OTT, Leo (1969) Van luchtkasteel tot koopmansburcht: In opdracht van de Raad van commissarissen der Groothandelsgebouwen N. V., P. 34. Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-
-ZULSTRA, Hielkje. (2018). "Het unieke Groothandelsgebouw in Rotterdam. Monument". 12-’02, pp. 7-11. Netherlands.
-DORMAN, Ewout et al. (2004). "De Lijnbaan. Cultuurhistorische verkenning van het Lijnbaan ensemble". Netherlands: CRIMSON.
-PROVOOST, Michelle. (2011). "Hugh Maaskant, Architect of Progress. Chapter 5. Architecture of Genius and Bureaucracy. By verzamelgebouwen 1939-1960". Pp. 64-93. The Netherlands: NAI Uitgevers.
-OTT, Leo. (1969). "Van luchtkasteel tot koopmansburcht: In opdracht van de Raad van commissarissen der Groothandelsgebouwen N. V.". Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar.
-DORMAN, Ewout et al. (2004). "De Lijnbaan. Cultuurhistorische verkenning van het Lijnbaan ensemble". Netherlands: CRIMSON.
-PROVOOST, Michelle. (2011). "Hugh Maaskant, Architect of Progress. Chapter 5. Architecture of Genius and Bureaucracy. By verzamelgebouwen 1939-1960". Pp. 64-93. The Netherlands: NAI Uitgevers.
-OTT, Leo. (1969). "Van luchtkasteel tot koopmansburcht: In opdracht van de Raad van commissarissen der Groothandelsgebouwen N. V.". Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar.
