History:
The history of this old dealership started in 1939, at that time the Ford Motor Company of the Netherlands wanted a brand new hub in the northern part of holland, so the Geerling&Winkelaar dealership was opened. The opening was a rather unusual one though, this was because the ceremony was right before the major military draft for the expected second world war. This meant that the majority of the potential customers and one of the directors couldn't even visit the opening. Even with this bizarre opening, it seemed to be quite successful and there waren't many problems.
About a couple of months later the second world war broke out and the imports of American Ford cars was halted. After the war the market for cars had to recover heavily but after 4 more years it could finally sell cars once again. This went one for a lot of years, during these successful years major expansions were made, which sadly ruined the modernistic image of the building...
In 2011 the garage closed its doors and moved to a newer building.
Today the whole terrain is just an empty plot of land.
Visit:
The exploration of this place was a special one for me, this was because I saw this building on a daily basis on my way to school. The sharp lines of the design of the building always intrigued me, so when I saw an opening one day I rushed to the entrance and started exploring. Most of the dealership part was quite empty and already pretty trashed by the local youth, but upstairs in the two small apartments a completely different sight could be seen. It was quite difficult to enter that part. You've got to enter via a small window via some steam pipes, luckily I succeeded. The two apartments were still pretty much intact and covered in all kinds of details like big glazed brick arches and small cabinets made of stained glass. This all dated back to the 1930s and were really nice to see.
Photos of garage:
Ford Garage by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Garage by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Bathroom by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Canteen by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Upstairs apartments:
Decay appartement by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
View by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Kitchen by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Panorama by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
Decay arch by ForgottenBuildings, on Flickr
I also made a documentary about this place, in the film I interviewed several of the former employees, historians and former residents.
Thanks for reading and watching!
The history of this old dealership started in 1939, at that time the Ford Motor Company of the Netherlands wanted a brand new hub in the northern part of holland, so the Geerling&Winkelaar dealership was opened. The opening was a rather unusual one though, this was because the ceremony was right before the major military draft for the expected second world war. This meant that the majority of the potential customers and one of the directors couldn't even visit the opening. Even with this bizarre opening, it seemed to be quite successful and there waren't many problems.
About a couple of months later the second world war broke out and the imports of American Ford cars was halted. After the war the market for cars had to recover heavily but after 4 more years it could finally sell cars once again. This went one for a lot of years, during these successful years major expansions were made, which sadly ruined the modernistic image of the building...
In 2011 the garage closed its doors and moved to a newer building.
Today the whole terrain is just an empty plot of land.
Visit:
The exploration of this place was a special one for me, this was because I saw this building on a daily basis on my way to school. The sharp lines of the design of the building always intrigued me, so when I saw an opening one day I rushed to the entrance and started exploring. Most of the dealership part was quite empty and already pretty trashed by the local youth, but upstairs in the two small apartments a completely different sight could be seen. It was quite difficult to enter that part. You've got to enter via a small window via some steam pipes, luckily I succeeded. The two apartments were still pretty much intact and covered in all kinds of details like big glazed brick arches and small cabinets made of stained glass. This all dated back to the 1930s and were really nice to see.
Photos of garage:
Upstairs apartments:
I also made a documentary about this place, in the film I interviewed several of the former employees, historians and former residents.
Thanks for reading and watching!
