Detail of a door

One of the nicest doorways in the city...

Berlage Kiosk

With the renovation of the Buitenhof, the architect H.P. Berlage built this kiosk in 1924. This small building is made of a combination of concrete and bricks, two distinct materials used in his works. It housed originally a newspaper stand, as well as a ladies restroom underground.

The passage

The "Passage" in the city centre (just around the corner of the Buitenhof) is the oldest shopping arcade in the city (opened in 1885), and was then fully renovated in 2007. It is designed in a neo-Renaissance style and is a unique street as it lies under a roof of glass. It is now listed as a historical monument. There are a couple of very nice shops in it (including the Apple store and the great DOK cookware one), so you have a very elegant stroll in it, especially when the weather is not so nice. Click here for a panorama of the arcade.

Art in the streets of Scheveningen

On 31 October 1995, a foundation supported by the local council was created in Scheveningen called Straatkunst op Scheveningen withe the aim of stopping and preventing any sort of pollution of our local environment (graffiti, paint, etc...). This special panel was inaugurated in 1997 and you can find in the Neptunustraat. They have used a lot of mosaic work to complete this work, as shown on the picture below.

Student house

This is one of the main student houses in the Hague around the Haagse Hogeschool (The Hague Highschool), a tower with approximately 1100 student flats, managed by the Duwo organisation. I have not spotted many round buildings in the city, apart from that one.

There is a sharp shortage of student housing in the city, and there is at the moment a real boom in the design and building of new facilities for them.

Travel building

This nice building can be found right in the shopping part of the city. It is a good example of the local architecture built around the beginning of this century, typically in the style of all the buildings in the city centre. This one was probably one of the head offices of the Dutch Railways, as indicated on the front.

Skyline III

The "Iron Blade" (strijkijzer in Dutch) is the latest tower that has been completed in the Hague at the end of 2007. It is inspired by the Flat Iron building in New York (hence, the name).

It is located outside the Holland Spoor train Station. It is built on a very small piece of land (30*35m), but is 130m high (among the ten highest buildings in The Netherlands). Most of it is inhabited by young people (300 one-room units) as well as 51 luxury flats. Apparently there is a panoramic terrace on the 41st floor, but I still need to check whether it is open to the public.

Architect Olthuis

I had to stop and park my car to make a picture when I saw this building fro the first time today. It is located Laan van Meerdervoort 215, and for a second I was transposed in Gaudi's world in Barcelona (Spain)! It is for me one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture in The Hague. This house is one of the 13 houses built on that location by J. Olthuis (1851-1921) in 1900-01, and is typical of the French-Belgian Art Nouveau style. All the 13 houses are not in the same style.

This house of 375m2 was for sale last year for an approximate €0,9m.

Watertower

The Haagse Duinwaterleiding company (DWL, now DZH) began to collect drinkable water from the dunes surrounding the Hague in 1874. The construction of this 49 meter high water tower dates back from that year. It was designed by L.A.Brouwer in the NeoRenaissance style. It stands on the list of national monuments and historical places.

It was renovated not long ago, and is still in use. The sign on top of the tower is still the landmark of DZH company.

If you've always wanted to know how a water tower works, then you must read this.

The Muzentoren

This octagonal tower of 73 meters high is a design from Robert Krier, a Luxembourgian architect and urban designer. The use of black bricks gives a very special effect, especially because it is not very common in the city. It was completed in 2001 and is the entrance to the new Resident real estate compound. It is an office building.

Italian feeling!

There's an Italian side to some streets from the old city centre of The Hague, here the Hooistraat. De street derives its name from the "hooi" or hay that boats were allowed to unload. Many horse stables were located in the area, as well as the military barracks of the House of Orange.

At the end, the yellow building is the Hotel des Indes.

Nicest square of the Hague

Jan P. Sweelinck (1562-1621), componist, organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. This is what can be read under this beautiful statue posted in Sweelinckplein, to me the nicest square of the city. It has a charateristic oval shape, and is the living centre of the Duinoord district. Around this square, many protected historical monuments (about 50!!), all built around the beginning of 1900. An association of residents was even created to ensure the conservation of this place. More photos can be found on their website.

Mystery building

I have not managed to find the story behind this building situated on the Kerkplein. Why are they coats of arms from countries, as well as a statue that looks like a symbol of death? Does anybody have an idea what it could relate to?

Wonderful colors!

No, be reassured, this is not a stained glass window in a contemporary church, but one in the building of the "Bijenkorf" department store, designed by the famous Dutch architect Piet Kramer, and built in 1926. It is a perfect example of the "Amsterdam School" style of architecture. You can find those beautiful stained glass windows in the main staircase, a different one at each level. I found other photos for you on this blog.

Examples of new architecture

On this picture, different examples of Dutch architecture found in the centre of The Hague in the Laakkade, Southside of the citycentre. Different levels of housing from flats to individual houses. Not the traditional picture of nice and romantic red brick houses! Note the number of dishes on the balconies of the flats, displaying the number of foreigners living in them.

Skyline II

Here is a photo of the skyline of The Hague from the beach. In the foreground an old (still in use) water tower built in 1874, when the water company began exploiting fresh water from the dunes surrounding Scheveningen. In the middle distance, some of the new high-rise office buildings in the city centre.

Royal theatre

The Royal Theatre of The Hague opened its doors in 1804. After several changes to its architecture and a complete renovation, it reopened its doors in 1999 to look like on this picture. It is a beautiful classical building. It is located on the Korte Voorhout, and is the home of the "Nationaal Toneel" ("National theatre-group"). It is the place for expatriates in The Hague to experience a theatre evening as they regularly presents plays in English or French.

8th borough of the Hague

In 2002, the new development of 11,000 dwellings (30,000 inhabitants) in Ypenburg joined the Hague as the 8th borough of the city. It was built on the site of a former military airport of the same name. The choice of the location and program are part of the Vinex policy of the government (Fourth White Paper on Spatial Planning (Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening), which was promulgated in 1993.

Like other similar new real estate development in the Netherlands (Ijburg in Amsterdam, Hoofddorp, New Vennep...), there is always a clean feeling as well as unfinished/empty feeling when walking around this massive brand-new neighbourhoods.

The Dutch government is now promoting the extension of small villages as a way of avoiding what some critics see as the large scale and anonymity of the Vinex locations.

For more architectural insight on the site, click here.

Here they are!!!

The three angels are hooked on the facade of the "Het Van Kinderen Museum" that opened in March 2004 and is located in an old school building on the corner of the Elandstraat and de Waldeck Pyrmontkade. I think the angels stand from the time when pupils were studying there and symbolize art, technics and graduation. The museum itself is very nice as it designed by and for children.


The building itself dates back around 1907, and was also used as a girls school, and later as a squat. It now houses, apart from the museum, the Grote pyr foundation and a restaurant.

House on a bunker

After having missed the two bunkers yesterday in Westbroek Park, I had to post today the picture of this private house being built on top of another WWII bunker on the Badhuisweg in Scheveningen. You can see the expected end result here. Apparently, this was a munition bunker with 3m thick reinforced concrete walls, capable of resisting 750kg bombs. At the end of the war, it automatically became the property of the Dutch State, until it was privately bought in 2003. For the whole story in Dutch, click here.

I am very curious to know how a private person can buy a bunker (and for what price), and have the idea of building her own house on top of it. Also what do you imagine the dark room will be used for (recording studio, movie theater...)?