Scheepvaartkantoor, Eendrachtskade 29

English translation

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Description

Introduction SHIPPING OFFICE WITH RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS, prominently situated on the corner of the Eendrachtskade n.z. and the Hoendiepskade and oriented towards the Hoendiep, built in 1912 on behalf of the Groninger Lemmer Steamship Company to the design of Groningen architects G. Nijhuis and A.Th. van Elmpt in Transitional style. The building was the permanent berth of the Lemmerboot which operated a scheduled service on the route Groningen-Lemmer-Amsterdam. Originally, behind the office section at the corner there was a through-passage running through the building, which provided passage for horses and carts and connected to the warehouse section. This space was converted in the nineteen-fifties and the entrance doors on the Eendrachtskade were renewed at that time. Recently the double door in the north facade was changed into a window. The interior has been modernised with the exception of a number of original doors and is of subordinate importance. The building is currently in use as a maritime insurance office. Description The substantial building is erected on a triangular ground plan and has two storeys under a truncated hipped roof, covered with slate. The various gable tops are capped with natural stone and worked finials. Between the gable tops the asymmetrical facades are finished with a broad wooden gutter on corbels beneath which runs a continuous frieze of relief brickwork. The ground floor has a plinth of granite slabs up to the window sills; above these the facades are constructed of reddish-brown brick. The short west facade at the corner has in its central projection an oriel projecting out over two storeys: on the ground floor a semi-circular projecting oriel with four windows and a smaller one on the upper floor with spherical zinc capping. The gable top above this has a climbing series of narrow ladder windows with natural stone lintels. On the southwest corner of this facade a characteristic square projecting corner turret with spherical tent roof, laid with red ceramic tiles. In the northwest corner on the upper floor a small loggia with a flat roof, which rests on three natural stone columns with a natural stone balustrade between them. The windows are regularly distributed over the facade surface and are closed at the top with leaded glass fanlights; those of the office section on the ground floor are paired in groups of three, five and two with narrow wall mullions under a continuous worked natural stone lintel with decorated setbacks and fan-shaped stretches. The main entrance in the middle of the south facade is set beneath a segmental arch and framed with natural stone blocks; in the keystone above a carved sculptured male head blowing a horn with leaf motifs. Above this a three-sided oriel with natural stone framing and oriel base. A similar but semi-circular oriel with spherical zinc capping is located above the renewed entrance in the north facade. Between the upper floor windows there are wrought-iron ornamental wall anchors. In some gable tops and between the upper floor windows are diamond-shaped natural stone panels in which are worked the coats of arms of the cities of Groningen, Lemmer and Amsterdam and symbols derived from shipping. The entrances to the residential apartments consist of the original, worked panel doors with natural stone architrave and oval windows above. Valuation Shipping office with residential apartments, built for the Groninger Lemmer Steamship Company to the design of Groningen architects G. Nijhuis & A.Th. van Elmpt in Transitional architecture, of general importance because of its cultural-historical and architectural-historical value as an intact and well-preserved example of an office building from shortly after the turn of the century, as well as because of the craftsmanlike execution of the design and the materials used and because of its significance for the socio-economic development history of this (former) harbour area in the city of Groningen.