A monument to live in.
The building application
The brothers Henri and Edouard Vanden Bemden, active in fishing trade for many years (near the ‘Steen’ and the old fish market), submitted a building application as follows ‘Building a house, offices, warehouses and stables’ opposite the Gasfactory in the Kronenburgstraat. The building in neotraditional style (architect Henri Thielen) occupies two parcels of land: 750 m² at the side of the Kronenburgstraat 34-36 (18m of façade) and 750 m² at the side of the Scheldestraat 63, for the house of the director, a garden and warehouses.
Why moving?
The most ancient part of the city had been demolished due to the straightening of the quays of the river Schelde as of 1890. Only the ‘Steen’ (a gate in the old city wall) remained. Following other fish traders, the company Vanden Bemden established its activities in the immediate surroundings of the new fish market, which was transferred to the Scheldestraat, near the docks in the new city development called South, developed as of 1876 on the lands of the former ‘Citadelle du Sud’.
The ‘Haringrokerij’ or Herring Smoking Factory
The construction of five towering chimneys for the desalting and smoking of fish behind the workshop at one side and six large chimneys at the other side of the inner court yard only occurred after a couple of years. Left and right in the Kronenburgstraat additional land was acquired. The whole site now consisted of about 2000m².
