According to Gerhard van den Berg, he had extensive consultations with the neighborhood in advance. “My question was, what would you as local residents like to see in this building? For example, there was once a gym here, but they no longer wanted that. They would prefer it to be used for living. And they also needed a meeting place as a neighborhood. Ultimately, after consultation with the municipality, we ended up with apartments for seniors on the ground floor, and housing for starters upstairs, with room for a community center.”
According to Van den Berg, the word ‘demolition’ was also initially used, or at least that was what was suggested by the municipality. Because the building has been empty for a while and looks neglected. “But demolishing this building is of course not possible. This is historical heritage. The building used to be a brush factory of the famous Jewish Godschalk family from Assen. The owner and his wife were murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. Descendants later continued the factory until 1962. We would like to preserve that piece of Jewish history and therefore return the name to the facade,” says Van den Berg.
Whether these will be owner-occupied or rental apartments has not yet been definitively determined, but rental is most likely, Van den Berg indicates. The Oranjestraat neighborhood association is still looking to the municipality to receive support for renting the building for activities. “We are one of the few neighborhoods in Assen without a community center, so some financial support from the municipality for this meeting place would not be a bad thing,” says chairman Jan Braaksma.
story continues below impression