Two railway stations in Amsterdam, H G J Schelling ; article in Architectural Review, May 1948
In an issue of the Architectural Review, this for May 1948, a review of two stations in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, that had actually opened nearly a decade earlier in October 1939 and that shows, I suspect, the "pause" in the ability to be able to wholly review such works caused by the impact of World War Two. It is fascinating, from a British perspective, to look particularly at the railway architecture of the north European countries in the pre-WW2 period. Working as I did for London Underground, the impact of both style and materiality of such architecture on the works of Charles Holden, especially from the early 1930s onwards, is a reminder of the interplay across the North Sea. The two stations seen here are therefore interesting in their own right as well as comparators with some of the proposed late Underground stations of the New Works Programme, 1935 - 40, that were never built as well as some of the proposed say, Great Western Railway or London Midland & Scottish stations that again were not constructed. This was due to post-war austerity, the impact of nationalisation in 1948 and, possibly, the changes in architecture that were already underway in post-war years.
Anyhow, the article covers Amstel and Muiderpoort stations, designed by H G J Schelling, and that opened as part of the Amesterdam east side railway scheme. Both share a similarity in terms of a lofty station hall, and both use an interesting palette of materials with reinforced concrete and brick tempered with some high class stone and ceramics. The article notes the use of welded steel frame construction that was starting to see more widespread use as against traditional rivetted or bolted construction.
Two railway stations in Amsterdam, H G J Schelling ; article in Architectural Review, May 1948
In an issue of the Architectural Review, this for May 1948, a review of two stations in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, that had actually opened nearly a decade earlier in October 1939 and that shows, I suspect, the "pause" in the ability to be able to wholly review such works caused by the impact of World War Two. It is fascinating, from a British perspective, to look particularly at the railway architecture of the north European countries in the pre-WW2 period. Working as I did for London Underground, the impact of both style and materiality of such architecture on the works of Charles Holden, especially from the early 1930s onwards, is a reminder of the interplay across the North Sea. The two stations seen here are therefore interesting in their own right as well as comparators with some of the proposed late Underground stations of the New Works Programme, 1935 - 40, that were never built as well as some of the proposed say, Great Western Railway or London Midland & Scottish stations that again were not constructed. This was due to post-war austerity, the impact of nationalisation in 1948 and, possibly, the changes in architecture that were already underway in post-war years.
Anyhow, the article covers Amstel and Muiderpoort stations, designed by H G J Schelling, and that opened as part of the Amesterdam east side railway scheme. Both share a similarity in terms of a lofty station hall, and both use an interesting palette of materials with reinforced concrete and brick tempered with some high class stone and ceramics. The article notes the use of welded steel frame construction that was starting to see more widespread use as against traditional rivetted or bolted construction.