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America Line Arrivals Hall
This first pile was driven this morning on Holland America Line’s site in Rotterdam for the company’s first new hall. This also marked the start of the reconstruction of the port of Rotterdam, which is why the ceremony had an official character. The pile was driven on the site previously occupied by the Philadelphia and Boston warehouses on Wilhelminakade.
De Maasbode, 16 June 1945
Destruction
Like most port companies, Holland America Line (H.A.L.) suffered greatly as a result of the wartime destruction. Its buildings were located on both the Wilhelminapier and Katendrecht. The San Francisco warehouse on Katendrecht suffered damage, with 430 of the 700 metres of the building destroyed.
After the war, the company decided to concentrate all activity on Wilhelminapier. The battered San Francisco warehouse was sold to the city and redeveloped as the Feniksloods. The New York Hall, from 1938, situated at the western tip of Wilhelminakade beside the main office, survived. Designed by Brinkman and Van den Broek, the building had a surface area of 4200 square metres on two levels. This structure became the new departures hall.
Arrivals Hall (Rotterdam Hall)
The rebuilding was tackled with gusto. Plans for the first phase of rebuilding were ready by early 1942. The first pile of the Philadelphia Hall, located on the eastern side of Wilhelminakade, was driven on 16 June 1945. This 5100-square-metre structure was completed by November 1946. It was followed by the 2400-square-metre Norfolk Hall. A covered space connected the two structures.
The Rotterdam Hall, 135 metres long, was the new arrivals hall. The distinctive roof consists of six concrete arches with spans of 18 metres. It was the first application of this type of concrete structure in the Netherlands. The building was slightly narrower than its predecessor so that the quay could be widened to 15 metres. The building has a surface area of 4150 square metres on the ground floor and 5250 square metres above. Located between the Rotterdam and New York Halls was the Baltimore Hall, with 3000 square metres of floor space.
The distinctive roof consist of six concrete-shell arches with spans of 18 metres.
By the end of March or early April, passengers from America will not disembark at the terminal at the end of the quay, but in a big new arrivals hall. Some 100 metres long and 40 deep, covered by 6 arches, each with a span of over 18 metres, the hall is located on the first floor of the building, which has been built up against the one already in use. A covered gallery at least 450 metres long connects the arrivals hall with the departure hall and the canteen located at the furthest tip of the quay. The gallery runs along the bank of the river. A platform to which the gangways can be attached will abut this gallery about 3 metres above the quayside.
Het Vrije Volk, 12 January 1950
Aesthetics
The elegant shapes of the shell roofs define the appearance of the building. Along the street side, they combine with the angled lines of the facade columns. The facades are made almost entirely of glass. The arrivals hall offers a wonderful view of the port. This attention for aesthetics was new. Bakema argued that it was important for architects to be given an opportunity to ‘contribute to design within the uncompromising framework of operational requirements’. No longer was the port a factory site with water; now it was part of the city.
The landing is long enough to service the three largest ships of the H.A.L. at the same time. When everything is ready, disembarking passengers will leave the quayside beneath the steps through a new entrance building. Currently under construction, the building contains administration space and a large washing and changing facility for dockworkers below ground. The capacity of this extremely important part of the complex from a social point of view will be about 400 men.
Het Vrije Volk, 12 January 1950
Customs
Disembarking passengers entered the arrivals hall with the shell roofs on the upper level. Luggage also arrived here. Four conveyor belts carry the luggage down to the ground level, while passengers take the monumental staircase. A waiting room for people collecting passengers was located on the ground level. Luggage and passengers did of course have to pass through customs.
The arrivals hall had a first-floor long corridor running along the quayside. This corridor extended as far as the New York Hall, the departure hall, and was 420 metres long. There were cranes for loading and unloading and gangways for access to the vessels. Along the street side, the upper level is supported on columns, creating a covered space at ground level where passengers and people collecting them could keep dry as they entered and left the building.
Departure of H.A.L.
Activity on the Wilhelminapier declined in the 1960s, as airplanes almost completely replaced ships for transatlantic travel. The Nieuw-Amsterdam ship sailed for America for the last time in 1971. The Holland America Line then started to focus on ocean cruises and relocated its head office to Seattle. The HAL moved out of the main building completely in 1984. Port activity in Rotterdam gradually moved westwards, and the halls and structures on Wilhelminapier were used as storage space by all sorts of companies.
In 1982 the Rotterdam Art Foundation organized the first AIR event, focusing on the Kop van Zuid. This was the first time that plans were drawn up to reuse the abandoned dock areas. Most of the plans envisaged lots of demolition, but the main office and arrivals hall were often earmarked for preservation. These buildings first opened to the public during the ‘Sculpture in the City’ event in 1988. The arrivals hall in particular turned out to be a fine exhibition space, and it hosted a big exhibition during the Stadstimmeren event in 1990. It was also the setting for house parties.
Today
The hall became a designated state heritage monument in 2010. Since 1997 the building has been in use as a cruise terminal, which means it has effectively retained its original function. Owing to the increase in the number of cruise ships arriving at and departing from Rotterdam, this is once again a bustling area. The building is also the location of café-restaurant Rotterdam. The building was renovated in 2015.
- Architect
- Brinkman, Van den Broek en Bakema
- Period
- 1946-1949
- Location
- Wilhelminakade 699, Rotterdam, Nederland
- Subjects
- Buildings National Monuments
- Neighborhoods
- Kop van Zuid Zuid
- Buildings
- Business buildings