Fenix warehouses, Walhalla canteen

The San Francisco warehouse was built in Katendrecht between 1921 and 1923 to a design by the Rotterdam architect C.N. van Goor (1861-1945). The design itself dates from 1914, but the First World War prevented its construction. This warehouse, like the Cuba-Mexico warehouse, was built for the Holland America Line. At the time, it was the biggest storage and transhipment warehouse in the world: 360 metres long and 55 metres wide on the ground floor and 65 metres wide on the upper level. The warehouse was functionally designed but had distinctive windows. The concrete facades were plastered.

In 1944 the German occupying forces blew up the quays of Katendrecht, causing serious damage to the warehouse. A fire in 1948 destroyed the central portion. Restoration work started in 1949. The Holland America Line then decided to concentrate its buildings on Wilhelminapier and sold this warehouse to the city. What remained of the building was a concrete skeleton of around 120 by 48 metres and a second skeleton of 165 by 48 metres. A canteen occupied the open space between them. The management of the warehouses was entrusted to the Municipal Trade Establishments. The design for the renovation was probably the work of an architect at the Public Works Department.

These were still substantial warehouses. Fenix I had about 5,700 m², and Fenix II about 8,000 m², of usable floor space on two levels. Fenix I housed Van Uden’s Transport Company. The warehouse was filled with goods such as ‘cotton, rubber, rapeseed, ores and bronze, glass, machinery and sunflower seeds, to name just some items’. Fenix II was occupied by the firm Citex. The entire Rijnhaven site was about 28,000 m² in size, with some 385 running metres of quayside. Three dock cranes could extend their reach to 36 metres, and two to 30 metres, servicing both warehouses. The canteen could accommodate 350 people.

Over time, port activity gradually moved westwards and most general cargo was replaced by container goods. The Fenix warehouses were taken over by the creative industries: the Fenix Food Factory with local products, the Kaapse brewery, Circus Rotjeknor, the Pinball Machine Museum and many others moved into the spaces. Walhalla Theatre opened a venue in the canteen. The first redevelopment plans were presented in 2007. This district became a focus of attention as a result of the urban renewal of Katendrecht, the Deliplein and the arrival of the SS Rotterdam.

All the buildings have been renovated to accommodate new uses. Between 2013 and 2019, Mei Architects built a structure on top of Fenix I containing 212 loft apartments grouped around a courtyard. That involved inserting a new steel structure through the existing building. The old warehouse has been renovated and now houses hospitality venues, the renewed Fenix Food Factory and the Codarts University of the Arts.

Kantine Walhalla was renovated by Van Schagen Architects in 2016. Fenix II was renovated by Bureau Polderman between 2020 and 2023. The Japanese architecture office MAD Architects designed a spectacular eye-catcher, De Tornado, in the form of a complex staircase that rises to a viewing platform. The building will house Museum Fenix, which highlights the millions of emigrants who departed from here, but also the many new arrivals in Rotterdam, a city of migrants. This is an initiative by the Droom en Daad Foundation.