Peter Linnenbank walks one last time through the main building of the Grasso machine factory in Den Bosch. He worked for the company for 51 years and retired four years ago. The characteristic main building of the factory on the west side of the station will become a new hotspot for start-ups and fast growers in ICT and data. A book about the special history of the company will be presented on Wednesday.
The new destination is in line with the trend for old industrial buildings to be given a new function. In Eindhoven this happened with Strijp-S and in Tilburg, for example, with the LocHal, which became a library.
“I hardly recognize anything anymore”, shouts Peter Linnenbank when he enters the monumental building. He knows all the corners of the former main building. “I also did the mail so got everywhere.”
Grasso was founded in 1858 and gained national fame with machines for the margarine industry and later with the production of chillers and compressors. In the 1950s, the Bossche company opened branches in other Dutch cities and abroad.
“Until the 1980s, Grasso employees only came to the main building for their anniversary,” says Bertie Geerts, who still works at the Gea-Grasso machine factory. The old main building, next to the current factory, is full of scaffolding, there is hammering and sawing and there are holes in the walls everywhere.
“The offices for all kinds of ICT and data companies should be ready here after the summer,” says project leader Robert de Kleijn. “The entire area around the main building will be tackled and there will also be homes and other new office buildings. The emphasis is on companies involved in data technology, because Den Bosch wants to profile itself as a data city.”
Many authentic pieces have been preserved in the original building in Den Bosch. The stately lobby with a huge stained glass window is one of the most striking. The staff presented the artwork in 1958 at the 100th anniversary of Grasso. There are also all kinds of old machines. The transformation of the monumental main building of the Grasso complex has already started in 2019.
“It’s great that old and new will soon be here next to each other,” says Bert Geerts. “We are very proud that one of the oldest machine factories in the Netherlands will soon have high-tech neighbors. And that next to a company that has been making heavy machines for more than a hundred years. It used to smell of oil and everything was greasy and now you can eat off the floor, so to speak. Of course there is also a lot of computer technology in the machines we make here,” says Bertie proudly.
Retired Peter Linnenbank is very curious about what it will look like in the future: “I will definitely walk into the main building here again, when it’s finished. I’m curious what can still be recognized from the past”, he says with a laugh.
Bertie Geerts, together with historian Frans van Gaal, wrote the book ‘Familienaam became merk’ about the history of Grasso. On Wednesday 2 February, Alderman Jan Hoskam will hand over the first copy to Nan van Schendel of Huis73, the library in Den Bosch.