If the municipality is allowed to build penthouses that rise above the centuries-old facades of the Grote Markt, ‘the pearl’ of Haarlem will never be the same again. Moreover, if that is allowed in this monumental place, then the rest of the protected cityscape of the city center is outlawed. That is the opinion of the Heemschut heritage association.
This afternoon, Heemschut filed a lawsuit against the municipality of Haarlem with the aim of building five apartments in the more expensive segment on top of the Brinkmannpassage. The municipality granted an environmental permit for this last month. According to Peter Koppen from Heemschut, that should not have happened.
Check out the report below to see what Haarlem residents think of the construction of the penthouses on the Grote Markt
According to Koppen, permission to build on improper land has been granted. The ‘line of sight study’ conducted by the mayor and aldermen is said to be incorrect. To give a good impression of the ‘detonating penthouses’, the experts would have had to walk much further into Grote Houtstraat, Riviervischmarkt and Leperstraat. Then, according to Koppen, they would have come to the conclusion that ‘the view of the facades is indeed affected.’
‘Primary task’
Professor Vincent van Van Rossem, emeritus professor at the University of Amsterdam, supports him in this. The architectural historian also believes that ‘the primary task of public administration is to protect a protected face, not to add anything to it.’
Housing shortage
The fact that the penthouses can only be afforded by people with a lot of money and are therefore not built to contribute to solving the housing shortage was not discussed in court. Koppen understood that. “Because that’s not what the case is about.”
Procedures
He thinks that the judge will mainly assess in her decision whether the municipality has completed the procedures correctly. “That’s how it usually goes and that’s a shame, because it should be about the content. That’s why we try everything to show that the results of our sight line study are very different from those of the municipality.” He hopes that a external expert may repeat the investigation. “Then we will see the real picture.”
No detriment
Architect Heiko Hulsker said that real estate developer Ludwig, for which he designed the penthouses, has the same goal as Heemschut: keeping the city beautiful. The fact that the roofs of the penthouses protrude above the historic facades does not detract from this. “We have really looked at it very carefully. We really strive for the same thing. We are talking about the Grote Markt here.”
The verdict is on November 8.