The architect of the lego house in a previous post was one I wanted to look into: Willem Dudok.

Of course, I could find no house amoung his works that looks anything like the Lego house, but I did find a very modern department store, the new flagship for De Bijenkorf in Rotterdam:

The grand opening on 14th of May 1930 was attended by over 70,000 - and the building would go on to be a prominent Rotterdam landmark through the thirties (but not beyond... )

Firstly though, a look at more of the achitecture. These images are from the Wendingen magazine (edition 8, 1930). The building looks simple, but is not.

The main facades are glass - there was much discussion on this, glass has the advantage of allowing in natural light, but looks odd when blocked by displays and furniture. The decision was made to use full glass on the north and west facades - where there are interesting vistas outside, and with the exception of the main stairwell (the tower on the north-east corner) as you don't want clients loitering in the stairwell enjoying the view...). On the other facade, to the east, windows where only installed towards the ceiling, above where any displays might block them anyhow.

The interior of the building was of course well appointed, and featured the first escalators and automatic floor mats in the city. The main atrium provided views throughout the store.



Overview



North Elevation



North-East elevation



South-West Elevation



Main Entrance

Staff Entrance



Atrium

Fifth floor lunchroom, Rooftop terrace

Fifth floor lunchroom, fourth floor buffet

Fifth floor lunchroom entrance, Ground floor stairs,
Newsstand (fifth floor), Grocery dept (fourth floor)



Main stairwell (fifth floor)
Barbershop entrance and barbershop (fifth floor)



Lunchroom (fifth floor), Rugs (third floor)
Soda fountain (ground floor), Post office (second floor)

Sadly all this was not to last. On the 14th of May 1940, Rotterdam was bombed by the Luftewaffe (despite the attack being called off). The building was split clean in two.

The remaining portion of the building was repaired (but not to the original splendor) and continued to serve Rotterdam until 1957, at which time it was demolished to make way for Westblaak and metro projects.

Aftermath of the bombing, May 14th, 1940

Partially rebuilt to see out the war



Demolition - late 50's

 The building would not make it to thirty years of age - a tragic loss. The design represents a complexity in modern buildings that architects are now starting to remaster, but which was lost in many of the developments in the meantime (in particular the big boxes of the sixties).

I consider the design better than that of it's replacement, shown below.

The 'new' Bijenkorf Rotterdam