Het Slaakhuis, or Slaakhuys, is a monumental building in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, the Netherlands. It was the former offices of the socialist newspaper

Het Vrije Volk ''Het Vrije Volk'' was a Dutch social-democratic daily newspaper. It was the successor, after World War II, of the socialist daily '' Het Volk''. The paper appeared legally 1 March 1945 in Eindhoven. From 28 January 1946, all subdivisions of the ...

. The building is a six-storey office block located on a street called Slaak and was

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in May 2003. The snooker centre next door, which hosted greats such as

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

was also later squatted. In 2011, the complex was evicted and by 2017 it had become a hotel and a

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

supermarket.

History

The building was designed by Jo Vegter in collaboration with Pieter Arend Leupen. It was built between 1954 and 1956, becoming the offices of the socialist national newspaper

. Behind the offices (which included a bookshop and a travel agency) was the printworks and two company residences. From the 1990s onwards, the Netherlands' largest snooker centre was based in the Slaak complex. Snooker greats such as

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

and

played there. In 2007 the centre was closed and it was later squatted.

Squatted

The Slaak was

in May 2003 as part of a national squatting action day. When initially squatted, the space hosted film nights, workshops, parties and a cafe. There was a free shop and lessons were taught in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

. It also hosted a shop from

WORM Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

on the ground floor. From 2006 onwards, the squatters were in negotiation with the owner (PWS) and the city council about the Slaakhuis being used as the base for a community art education project. It was declared a national monument. In 2011, the squatters were evicted from the office block and from the snooker centre a few months later. The office block was renovated into a luxury hotel and the snooker centre became a

supermarket in 2017.

History

Squatted

See also

References

Further reading