User:Paul bohte/Warehouses Medan, Bindjeij en Laboean

As a continuation of the many existing warehouses in the center of Amsterdam, several new warehouses were built around 1900 near the IJ bay, which were converted at the end of 20th century into apartments.

History
The Laboean, Bindjeij and Medan warehouses on the Houtmankade are designed by architect Willem Hamer, who designed also some striking 19th-century buildings in Amsterdam, such as the Hotel de l'Europe. The construction of the warehouses started on July 22, 1895. On September 14 in the same year the construction had progressed so far that the founder and director of the Deli Company, Peter Wilhelm Janssen, could lay the foundation stone. In the years 1898-1900 the Deli expanded its storage facilities with the adjacent warehouses Serdang, Langkat and Deli (Nova Zemblastraat 8-12). All these warehouses were mainly used for tobacco storage.

The warehouses near the Westerkanaal and close to the Westerkeersluis (flood barrier) could be seen as background on pictures and paintings made by George Hendrik Breitner. Breitner recorded in 1897 the construction pits and piling activities on Van Diemenstraat during the great city expansions of Amsterdam that period.

The names of warehouses refer to the locations Medan, Bindjeij (Binjai) and Laboean (Labuhan) in the sultanate of Deli at Sumatra, former Dutch East Indies, and now Indonesia, where the Deli Company had their possessions. Since 2003 the three warehouses together are marked as a Rijksmonument which is officially recorded under number 526740.

From warehouse to a residential building
The three warehouses at the Houtmankade were renovated in 1986, where all spaces were converted to units with a residential and / or business function. As part of the renovation, the central part of the Bindjeij has been demolished to make way for the courtyard. The rear part of the Bindjeij has been converted into a joint stairwell which include also an elevator. Therefore, all units became accessible. The part next to the warehouses, which gave before the renovation direct access to the outside area were rebuilt to the main entrance of the apartment complex, hall and a storage facilities. That is why the main entrance to the complex appears now on the Nova Zemblastraat.

During the renovation an artwork ‘three-dimensional nature fragments’ is installed in the courtyard. The artwork is designed by a Dutch sculptor Ger Zijlstra.

Due to the new main entrance the original housenumbers Houtmankade 20-24 were changed into Nova Zemblastraat 2A-6L. Since 2016 all 24 appartements, divided over 5 floors, do have a residential function. The warehouses together are called 'De Kleine Houtman' to distinguish it from 'De Houtman' which is on the other side of the Nova Zemblastraat.

Building characteristics
The different characteristics of the warehouses have been preserved on the outside as well as inside. The warehouses are designed in a neo-Renaissance style with elements such as stepped gables (with triangular and semicircular frontons), consoles and decorative bands with yellow brickwork. In terms of type, this storage building fits into the warehouses from the Dutch Golden Age. Inside, the cast-iron columns together with the robust beams on which the wooden floors rest still reinforce the load-bearing structure of these warehouses. The cast iron columns are finished with (reinforced) concrete for sufficient fire resistance. The rafters that support the roof are still visible in the appartements on the top floor.