Werkplaats, Soesterweg 300

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

Introduction

From 1863 onwards, Amersfoort developed as a railway town. Various railway enterprises that existed at that time laid railway lines here with associated service buildings. Originally, the Wagenbedrijf Amersfoort (WBA) was a wagon-maker's workshop of the then Hollandse IJzeren Spoorwegmaatschappij (HIJSM) which took this site into use as such in 1904. This railway company later became part of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) which further equipped and developed the site for the maintenance, overhaul and conversion of freight wagons. Many of the workers were housed in the adjacent district, the Soesterkwartier. After 1996, the company became independent as NS subsidiary Nedtrain. In 2000, however, it was closed again. The site is located between Station Amersfoort on the south side and the Soesterkwartier on the north side. It is approximately 1.5 km long and 300 m wide. The buildings are centrally located on the site on the north side at the Soesterkwartier where the original entrance with porter's lodge is also situated. Furthermore, a number of buildings with other functions are present on the site, such as a warehouse, a timber store and a bicycle shed as well as numerous railway facilities such as bundles of sidings, points and buffer stops. The main building is centrally located. It was built in 1904 to the design of D.A.N. Margadant, house architect of the HIJSM. In 1924 the building was extended and in 1991 the gable ends were modified.

Description

The MAIN BUILDING (complex component 1) has a large rectangular dimension of approximately 214 m length with a hall of approximately 58 m and a strip of offices on the north side of approximately 10 m wide. It was constructed in two phases. Counting from the east side, the first 10 bays and the wide bay (1st section) date from 1904, the following 6th and 7th bays, again separated by a wide bay (2nd and 3rd sections) date from 1924. The wider bays are intended for the internal overhead travelling cranes. The tracks connect via the gable ends. On both of these sides is a roller runway for the building. On the north side of the building are the likewise protected feather-working workshop and the boiler house. Connections have been made between the main building and the boiler house for machinery and installations. This gives this side an industrial street-like character. The gable ends still display the characteristic large loading doors, but otherwise these facades have been largely modernised. The side facades are executed as a series of stepped gables between which transversely placed roof lights are situated. The roof lights are oriented to the east. The start and end roofs as well as the roofs of the wide aisles have gabled roofs, as does the office section. The whole is constructed in brick. In principle, each stepped gable has two arched windows with cast-iron glazing bars. On the south side these are large windows consisting of two parts, the upper part of which contains a pivoting central section. On the north side it can be seen that there is a storey here. On the ground floor there are always two wider arched windows and above them two by two narrow arched windows. Internally, the building consists of one large hall with office and personnel spaces on the north side. The construction consists of an iron column structure. The columns are composed of U-shaped sections with flat girders and bracing girders. They support the construction of the wooden roof light with iron tension rods. The roof trusses above the roller runways are executed as Polonceau trusses.

Valuation

The MAIN BUILDING is of general interest because of - the cultural-historical value as an expression of the history and development of railway construction in the Netherlands; - the architectural-historical value because of its place in the oeuvre of D.A.N. Margadant and as a characteristic example of industrial architecture; - the building-historical value of the construction method of columns and roof structures which can be understood as an early form of system building; - the ensemble value because of the functional spatial coherence with the other components.