The Haarlemmerhouttuinen are located on the north side of Haarlemmerplein. The new development is based on the original seventeenth-century subdivision of the block into narrow long plots on the square. Deeply set apart from them are shallow plots on the west side of the block. In this way, a compact building block was created in which the building walls that separate the houses from each other follow the plot pattern. A courtyard on the square wall forms the entrance to the apartments. Through the courtyard and the entrance hall there is a view of the entrance to the parking garage. The square and the Haarlemmerhouttuens are thus visually connected to each other.
The Haarlemmerplein was the city's main problem area. Over the course of about thirty years, one (too) ambitious plan after another was introduced; even a cinema was supposed to be built there. Meanwhile, the square increasingly became a desolate space.
Ten years ago, finally the final building plan for a block of housing was in place. Dick van Gameren (50) was hired as architect; at that time he still had his own firm; now he is a partner at Mecanoo Architecten.
‘I followed exactly the line of the historic buildings of this square,’ he says. ‘It was demolished fifty years ago for a main road that never got built. The building block is thirty meters deep, but because I made three courtyards in it, most of the houses have a view of the square.’
Nice plan; all permits were in place; construction of the parking basement with two hundred spaces had already begun. Then one neighborhood resident discovered a flaw in the zoning plan and the construction was put on hold for 2.5 years.
‘Horrible,’ says Ron Blomaard, development manager at Heijmans Vastgoed. ‘It wasn’t nice for us, but it wasn’t nice for the neighborhood or the municipality either. It was still quite exciting, but in the end we came out on top.’
The result was that the sales of the properties meanwhile fell in the middle of the crisis. The block contains 47 resale properties ranging from three to five million euros, all of which have been sold, and 22 so-called wibo properties, social rental housing for seniors with extra wide doors and hallways and without thresholds.
Marieke van der Zeijden (70) lives in such an apartment owned by housing corporation De Key. For seventy square meters she pays seven hundred euros per month, including service charges. She had been registered for years because she could no longer live in her apartment and was surprised to receive a flat here.
Her house overlooks the railway, so the noise nuisance required special measures on that facade. The disadvantage is that the large windows cannot be opened, but you really can't hear any of the train traffic.
‘The houses all have different layouts, but they are designed very well,’ says Van der Zeijden, interior architect. ‘I find the social housing even more pleasant than the owner-occupied properties. It’s nice that a building has been set up in this area of the city for both buyers and social tenants.’
The other residents feel the same way. They especially praise the spacious, bright apartments, the design of their building, and the location, so close to Westerpark and Haarlemmerdijk. The jury members also find the new apartment block beautiful. ‘And it’s great that older people can still live in the city center.’
For the neighborhood, Blomaard is happy that the building is finally here. ‘First they had to endure years of construction work, and then all the noise from the construction began. We therefore did the material supply as early as in the morning and in the evening as much as possible. They had to be patient for years, but now the neighborhood has regained a beautiful square.’
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