The Cuyperstrap, Cuypershal and Cuypersfaçade: more than 130 years after completion, the Central Station is increasingly gaining in its former glory. A team of architects, including Benthem Crouwel Architects and TAK Architecten, started work last week to restore the entrance of the Cuypershal, the central hall itself and the east facade, together with NS Stations and ProRail.
Five years ago, this monumental hall was given clearer orientation and signposting for travelers, both to the tracks and to the catering industry. According to TAK Architecten’s vision, everything in the hall revolves around ‘spatial quality’. This had largely disappeared due to later renovations and additions, such as offices in the 1950s. The hall looked cluttered. Joyce van Sprundel of TAK Architecten states that ‘archive photos, construction drawings and paintings by Cuypers himself’ are their source of inspiration. She is happy „that the wooden partitions will soon finally disappear and that new entrance doors will be installed. The floor is also being renewed.”
Architect Pierre Cuypers (1827-1885) became known for the construction of the Rijksmuseum (1876-1885) and the Central Station (1881-1889), together with Dolf van Gendt. Cuypers was first and foremost an architect of churches, often with a dark neo-Gothic interior. Much of his original work was systematically mutilated or disappeared behind stucco in the last century. This also applies to Amsterdam Central. The so-called Cuypers staircase, which led from the central hall via a pedestrian tunnel to Stationsplein, was closed during an earlier modernization phase. In 2018, the staircase was reconstructed, 34 steps, and leads down to the subways.
From water city to country city
Alderman Reinier van Dantzig (Monuments and Heritage, D66) says through a spokesperson “that the beautiful Amsterdam Central Station has been the entrance to Amsterdam since 1889. From now on, the facade with the new entrance will be fully visible again, so that hundreds of thousands of daily passers-by will continue to use this beautiful heritage for their train or metro in the coming decades. I think it’s wonderful that such a monument still fulfills its function after all these years.”
This renovation is in line with the Master Plan from 2004, in which the North/South line was constructed and the central tunnel was widened. Increased renovation costs caused delays, the tender has now been completed. Because so many intensive projects are being carried out at the same time at the Central Station, the entire restoration of the Cuypershal will probably only be completed after 2030.
Cuypers’ station was built at the time as a striking city gate that connected Amsterdam with the rest of Europe. At present, 200,000 travelers use the train every day, in 2030 this will probably increase to 275,000. With the construction of the station on an island, Amsterdam turned from a water city into a ‘country city’: shipping on the IJ disappeared behind the high roof of steel and glass.
Nuisance and nuisance as little as possible
The work on Amsterdam Central also includes wider platforms, renovation of the west tunnel and the restoration of the east tunnel, which leads to the royal waiting room. From 2024, the station will really be overhauled. The work should be carried out in phases in order to minimize inconvenience to travelers and nuisance to local residents.
Anyone visiting the station now can discover all the places where the architectural overhaul took place. The masonry of the richly decorated, vaulted ceiling is clean and fresh looking. There is good news for fans of the old station building: the former canopy and the carriage covers on both sides of the entrance are returning; they were temporarily stored during the construction of the North/South line. Beautiful details can be seen. In 2017, for example, a mural emerged behind stucco of a Dutch milkmaid with a white hood pouring milk. For years the portrait has been hidden, now it radiates towards the visitor. Through archival research, Joyce van Sprundel knew about the panel. Once it was found, “the joy was great.”