The Westergasfabriek is a former

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, now used as a cultural venue. Westerpark_westergasfabriek

History

In the 19th century the

Imperial Continental Gas Association Imperial Continental Gas Association plc was a leading British gas utility operating in various cities in Continental Europe. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The Company was formed ...

(ICGA) built four coal gas plants in Amsterdam: the Eastern Gas Factory, the Western Gas Factory, the Northern and the Southern. Westergasfabriek was ready in 1885 and was strategically situated between the Haarlemmer trekvaart, and the first railway line in the Netherlands. In 1885 it was the largest gas extraction plant in the Netherlands. The gas was extracted from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and was used for

street lighting A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

. Because of the higher gas prices the City of Amsterdam took over the operation in 1898 and expanded the plant. The plant was perfectly situated between the water and the railway line but gas production was very successful. The big Gasholder was built in 1902. The gas factory produced gas for the city until the late fifties. Amsterdam went over to gas from

Hoogovens Koninklijke Hoogovens known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS) until 1996 or informally Hoogovens. was a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. Since 2010, the plant is named Tata Steel IJmuiden. The IJmuiden steelwor ...

in IJmuiden, so the production of coal gas from the Factory decreased. In the sixties natural gas was found in Slochteren in the North of the Netherlands. This is why in 1967 the production of gas from the Factory stopped permanently. After the Western Gas Factory closed the Amsterdam Electricity and Gas Company (GEB) destroyed some of the buildings among them the gas plant itself and the water tower. The other buildings were used for storage and repair and as laboratories and workshops. The remaining buildings were recognised as monuments in 1989. In 1992 the GEB left the buildings and they were taken over by the District Council of Westerpark.

Redevelopment

Most of the thirteen buildings on site were designed by architect Isaac Gosschalk in the Dutch Neo Renaissance style, popular in the Netherlands between 1870 and 1915. Gosschalk was a famous architect in his time, as famous as

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

and Dolf van Gendt. He was a Jewish architect and he mainly built factories among them the

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

brewery which is unfortunately completely destroyed and the railway station of Groningen. Gosschalk united the functional nature of the buildings with the beauty of architecture. Symmetry played an important role in his design. Nineteen of the original buildings remain on the site (not all by Gosschalk) and are designated as national monuments. In the eighties the City of Amsterdam started to think about redevelopment but found out that the site was heavily polluted. In the nineties the District Council of Westerpark took over the responsibilities for the redevelopment. There were four main problems: remediation of the pollution, constructing a new park, finding new use for the derelict buildings and the overall problem: a lack of money.

Culture Park

The gas works were re-opened as the "Culture Park Westergasfabriek" in 2003. Its television studios host programmes like

Pauw & Witteman ''Pauw & Witteman'' was a Dutch late-night talk show, hosted by Jeroen Pauw and Paul Witteman. It was generally focused on current affairs and politics. It was broadcast every weekday at 11 pm on Nederland 1. It was initially co-produced by Du ...

(a former late night talkshow),

De Wereld Draait Door ''De Wereld Draait Door'' (; English: "The world keeps on turning") also known by the acronym DWDD was an early-evening talk show on Dutch television, broadcast every weekday at 7:00 p.m. on NPO 1. It is the Netherlands' longest-running, reg ...

(an early evening talk show with Matthijs van Nieuwkerk) and

Eva Jinek Eva Jinek (born 13 July 1978) is a Dutch American journalist and television presenter. Biography Jinek was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and grew up in Washington, D.C., where she attended Sheridan School.Olaf Koekebakker - ''Westergasfabriek'' * Evert Verhagen - ''Een plan voor de Westergasfabriek''

External links

* {{Coord, 52, 23, 12, N, 4, 52, 15, E, region:NL_type:landmark_source:kolossus-nlwiki, display=title Tourist attractions in Amsterdam Buildings and structures in Amsterdam Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam