I’ve looked up a lot of old films and pictures of the Rotterdam before 1940. It truly was one of the most interesting and beautiful places in our country. The Hofplein train station and square still captures my imagination. The elevated train trains are also very cool.
It’s such a shame that it was pointlessly bombarded due to bad communication while we had already surrendered. So much of the surviving parts was also just demolished. A lot could have been saved! It truly makes me mad to see the destruction and what it looks like today.
TL;DR: truly amazing city with great architecture, now just a pointless skyscraper and modernist playground.
theycallmecliffsays
I don’t agree with the modernist approach after the war, but it’s easy to see where they were coming from. By inciting a paradigm shift, they were trying to draw a line and move forward from the past, seen to create the conditions for possibility of the World Wars. Of course, that’s a bit idealistic, because there are many factors beyond architectural control that caused those conditions.
It’s ironic that the demolitions of the modernists, culminating in “urban renewal” and the destruction of WWII are grouped together in the current view of preservation in terms of negative impact, even as modernists tried so hard to distinguish themselves from the terrors of the past. If the wars caused widespread destruction, the modernists ensured the existence of scar tissue through their botched attempts at a cure-all.
Elliptical_Tangentsays
The water got bombed away?
viktor72says
When you go to that church nowadays it feels out of place. The city has managed to make the old church feel like the invader.
buffaalsays
Thanks! You saved my Saturday night 🙂
JohnPlayerSpecialRedsays
Dutchie here. On this sub, we see a lot of demolition. Rotterdam, however, is something else. Sure, demolition in the sixties and seventies happened, but this city (the inner core to be precise) changed mainly because of the bombing in 1940. I’m not a *Rotterdammer*, but I can only be happy that this city rose from the ashes. My two cents.
canadiancreed says
Damn like a whole different city
DutchMitchell says
I’ve looked up a lot of old films and pictures of the Rotterdam before 1940. It truly was one of the most interesting and beautiful places in our country. The Hofplein train station and square still captures my imagination. The elevated train trains are also very cool.
It’s such a shame that it was pointlessly bombarded due to bad communication while we had already surrendered. So much of the surviving parts was also just demolished. A lot could have been saved! It truly makes me mad to see the destruction and what it looks like today.
TL;DR: truly amazing city with great architecture, now just a pointless skyscraper and modernist playground.
theycallmecliff says
I don’t agree with the modernist approach after the war, but it’s easy to see where they were coming from. By inciting a paradigm shift, they were trying to draw a line and move forward from the past, seen to create the conditions for possibility of the World Wars. Of course, that’s a bit idealistic, because there are many factors beyond architectural control that caused those conditions.
It’s ironic that the demolitions of the modernists, culminating in “urban renewal” and the destruction of WWII are grouped together in the current view of preservation in terms of negative impact, even as modernists tried so hard to distinguish themselves from the terrors of the past. If the wars caused widespread destruction, the modernists ensured the existence of scar tissue through their botched attempts at a cure-all.
Elliptical_Tangent says
The water got bombed away?
viktor72 says
When you go to that church nowadays it feels out of place. The city has managed to make the old church feel like the invader.
buffaal says
Thanks! You saved my Saturday night 🙂
JohnPlayerSpecialRed says
Dutchie here. On this sub, we see a lot of demolition. Rotterdam, however, is something else. Sure, demolition in the sixties and seventies happened, but this city (the inner core to be precise) changed mainly because of the bombing in 1940. I’m not a *Rotterdammer*, but I can only be happy that this city rose from the ashes. My two cents.
iStareAtButtholes says
Where did all the water go?