The city of Amsterdam is always growing. This was also the case in the nineteenth century. Trade, industry, work and living space: to connect all this, a good transport network was needed.
1901
The area where De Hallen is now located was once water: the Kwakerspoel. In the seventeenth century, during the enormous growth of Amsterdam, the lake was dug to provide space for sawmills for housing and shipbuilding. The area grew into a busy zone on the western edge of the city. Around the nineteenth century, the wood market collapsed due to foreign imports, and the mills fell into disuse. The city grew at the seams, the Kwakerspoel was filled in and the windmills demolished. The vacant land turned out to be ideal for something new: a parking space for the electric tram.
In the nineteenth century, horse and carriage was an important means of transport in Amsterdam. One of the first forms of public transport was therefore the horse-drawn tram, which entered the city in 1875. Starting with a line that only commuted between Dam Square and Leidsebosje, there were already fifteen lines in 1900. In that year, it was decided to electrify the tram network. To store and maintain the trams, they started designing a tram depot.
The Halls were designed by the Department of Public Works. Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, this service was involved in designing buildings with a public function from 1850 to 1980: bridges, schools, roads, and therefore also tram depots. The architects almost always remained anonymous. The tram depot consists of seven halls and an external carpentry and painting workshop (today's Hall 17) and was built in phases between 1901 and 1928. Characteristic of the building is the frequent use of bricks and the beautiful truss structures that are everywhere.
the building can be found. Partly because of this, de Hallen has similarities with the Amsterdam School, an architectural style that originated in the early twentieth century and was characterised by an expressive construction method. The current central passage runs from Tollensstraat to Ten Kate Market. This large, bright space used to be the traversing hall. This is where the trams came in and were then led to one of the transverse halls for storage or repair with the help of special trolleys.
The demand for new trams was enormous and, of course, they all had to be maintained. The tram depot quickly became the beating heart of the neighborhood.
1932
The city grew. There were more tram lines and more space was needed for the trams. To meet this requirement, depots were added, such as the tram depot in the Havenstraat in Amsterdam-Zuid and the Lekstraat depot in the Rivierenbuurt. The Tollensstraat depot was also expanded. Between 1908 and 1928, the complex kept getting a little bigger. For example, the spaces east of Tollensstraat (now known as the small passage) were completed and used as parking for tram side cars. Halls 2 and 3 were expanded towards Bellamy Square.
In 1932, the tram depot in the Havenstraat in Amsterdam-Zuid was made a lot larger. As a result, it was no longer necessary to park trams in Tollensstraat. From that moment on, the Tollensstraat depot was only used as a workshop.
During the war, tram traffic came to a standstill and many trams were transported to Germany. After the war, the trams returned: bigger, longer, more modern.
These new models required a lot of maintenance. In the 1980s, Louis Dona worked in the depot's Mechanical Parts Workshop, as a bank worker. “On an average day, there were about two hundred people walking around. In our department, there were just over twenty of us. Every time a tram came in, it was completely stripped — windows, monitors, everything. The parts went to the warehouse, were overhauled, and then we completely reassembled the tram.” His department also had a
huge hammer. “It hit so hard that the shops on Kinkerstraat were rattling out of the showcases.” Louis worked in the depot for more than twenty years. One of his best memories? Herman Brood's visit. “That day, nothing was done. Everyone came to see. We laughed so much.” Still, it stopped. The trams kept getting bigger and in the long run hardly fit in the building. It was no longer possible to expand. The city had grown around the complex. Other workshops took over.
With the commissioning of the more modern and larger workshop in Diemen, the GVB left the Tollensstraat tram depot.
1996
In 1996, the curtain finally fell on the Tollensstraat tram depot. The GVB took the new main workshop in Diemen-Zuid into use and — after almost a century — the building in Amsterdam-West was no longer needed as a workshop. Louis Dona experienced the closure up close. “We found it terrible. Everyone who sat here. When we heard the bell here in West, we went shopping. Then we walked into the Kinkerstraat and one went here, the other went there. You could go anywhere. There was absolutely nothing to do in Diemen. Anyway, we had to leave. The building just about fell apart. When it rained, we had to put down pallets, otherwise you could barely walk through all that water.”
After a few more years of serving as a shelter for museum trams, the Tollensstraat depot closed its doors in 2005.
At the beginning of 2010, life unexpectedly returned to the empty draw. A group of activists, young people and artists used the building out of distrust of the plans for redevelopment.
2010
On Sunday, January 31, 2010, the tram depot was cracked by a group of activists, young people and artists who had little faith in the plans for redevelopment. The building had been empty for over five years and it had been almost fourteen years since the GVB left. The squatters wanted to use the space for small-scale cultural and social projects. They built courtyards, opened the doors to the public with theater performances and events, and even built a swimming pool. After much bickering with politicians, it was agreed that they would leave the building as soon as construction was carried out on the basis of a plan with support in the neighborhood.
In the same year, the Tramdepot Development Company (TROM) was established.
After years of tug-of-war and failed plans, TROM comes into the picture. An initiative group consisting of architect André van Stigt, local residents, future users and other stakeholders and sympathizers.
2013
It was clear even before 1996 that the building needed a new function. Various renovation plans were presented but failed. Even the demolition was on the table. In 2010, the Tramremise Development Company (TROM) was founded to change that. Their goal: to give De Hallen a new, sustainable and high-quality interpretation as quickly as possible — appropriate to the neighborhood and with a metropolitan appearance. And all of this in a financially profitable way.
To achieve this, we spoke intensively with the neighborhood and looked at what the building allowed. The space determined what could happen: “function follows form”. De Hallen had to become the working heart of the neighborhood again, and a vibrant cultural center.
After years of tug-of-war and failed plans, TROM comes into the picture. An initiative group consisting of architect André van Stigt, local residents, future users and other stakeholders and sympathizers.
In the renovation plan, architect André van Stigt worked to preserve traces of the original function. For example, tram rails still run through the central passage and on the walls, the original stone number plates refer to the halls behind them.
Due to the tall, long gable roofs, which consist largely of glass, a lot of daylight enters. Partly because of this, De Hallen has a pleasant and spacious feeling, which is closely in line with the vision of the redesign: where De Hallen's workshops were once closed spaces
behind which work was carried out, the complex is now an open space that is accessible to everyone. One of the initiators of the TROM Foundation, Eisse Kalk, has written the book New Life in De Hallen about the renovation.
In October 2014, André van Stigt received the IJ Prize from former mayor Eberhard van der Laan. Together, five years after the presentation of the first renovation plans, they will officially open De Hallen on February 5, 2015.
After years of tug-of-war and failed plans, TROM comes into the picture. An initiative group consisting of architect André van Stigt, local residents, future users and other stakeholders and sympathizers.
2014
The FilmHallen has nine halls and a unique Parisien hall with the original interior of Cinema Parisien (1924). In Leescafé Belcampo, you can walk straight to OBA De Hallen, which together is good for a cultural program. Opposite is Beeldend Spraken: gallery and art loan for contemporary art.
Today, De Hallen is also about craftsmanship. At Recycle, bicycle mechanics are trained, Denim City is about denim innovation and you learn the trade at the Jean School. Young Bloods trains young people to become hairdressers in one year.