Buskruitfabriek, Amsteldijk Zuid 54

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Description of component 14: GUNPOWDER MILL (Amsteldijk Zuid 54-58).

Introduction

The GUNPOWDER MILL belongs to the oldest part of the explosives factory complex. The gunpowder factory was established at this location in 1718. In 1782 this factory exploded, after which a new mill with outbuildings was constructed.

The volume is located entirely at the front, on the non-hazardous section, and extends across the width of the factory grounds behind it. Tree planting is located in front of it.

In the eighteenth century and in a large part of the nineteenth century the factory consisted only of the eighteenth-century built mass. This contained gunpowder mills and other production spaces. There were also stables for the livestock that drove the gunpowder mills. At the end of the nineteenth century the building was adapted. The architect B.J. Ouendag was involved in this. Later in 1913 a cow barn with hayloft and wagon shed were added to the west side. In 1918 it officially received the function of storage place for non-hazardous raw materials and objects, private residence and farmhouse.

In 2004 hotel suites were installed in the gunpowder mill building. This conversion was the final piece of the repurposing of the complex which had begun in the nineteen-nineties of the twentieth century.

Description

The object has an L-shaped floor plan. Parallel to the Amsteldijk there is an elongated structure whose front facade faces the Amstel (east). On the south side a shorter transverse structure stands perpendicular to it. The whole is one storey high, built with hand-moulded brick in English bond and topped by two gabled roofs at right angles to each other. Four components can be distinguished: the gatehouse, the two wings on either side of the gatehouse and the transverse structure.

The gatehouse is located in the elongated structure and is the most striking due to the bell gable with ornamental wall anchors, sandstone claw pieces and cornice. On the lintel above the wooden entrance doors is inscribed: Buskruid Molen nr. 3. The passage is filled with a glazed shop front. The wings on either side of the gatehouse have various types of door and window openings with glazing bars. The rear facade is largely rendered and shows, like the front facade, various types of door and window openings with glazing bars. The gabled roof above this structure is covered with Dutch Old tiles.

The southern transverse structure consists of the remains of the old stables. It is a built mass on a rectangular foundation with mortared walls provided with ornamental wall anchors under a gabled roof with red Dutch Old tiles. The facades have various types of openings. On the west gable of this volume the cow barn from 1913 adjoins.

Valuation

The GUNPOWDER MILL is of general importance:

- as a historically functional component of the Explosives Factory complex;

- from a cultural-historical and architectural-historical perspective as a largely preserved and extremely rare example of an eighteenth-century gunpowder factory with nineteenth-century modifications;

- because of its ensemble value due to the functional relationship to the other objects of the factory;

- because of its image-determining value due to its location on the Amstel on the Amsteldijk and due to the striking gatehouse.