The rebuilding – map detail IJmuiden
W. Beun

The rebuilding – map detail IJmuiden

Prominent Dutch architect Dudok (see interview with W. Beun) designed the plans for the town of IJmuiden, a significant part of the Velsen area post-war reconstruction program. He made a virtue out of necessity by laying out - forcing really - an east-west connection through parts of IJmuiden already stripped by the German occupiers.  Work started in the northerly part of IJmuiden-East, which had been the most ramshackle part of town prior to the war. From here, the Lange Nieuwstraat [Long New Street], as the backbone of the new city was very appropriately named, was extended to the west through an area which had hitherto not been developed. Further west, the area connected to a demolition zone which extended northward up to the North Sea Canal. The thoroughfare was organized as a visual, green connector between the shipping canal on the north side, and the dunes of the Duin en Kruidberg country estate in the south. At the crossroads of the east-west axis and the north-south axis, consideration was given to a concentration of cultural functions. At the other, eastern-most end of the Lange Nieuwstraat, was located Plein 1945 [Square 1945], where a City Hall and a war memorial were planned. The one and a half kilometer stretch between these two poles, would be lined on one side with shops. A market square would be located half-way. Not only did these shops serve the city of IJmuiden, it also ‘cemented’ the neighborhoods that mushroomed on either sides of Lange Nieuwstraat.  In this way, Dudok attempted to unite his large-scale monumental design with the concept of small scale neighborhood living, which was becoming the urban planning trend during this period. In order to counteract the feared adverse effects of urbanization, such as the ever increasing scale, growing anonymity and secularization, the idea had taken hold that a city should be developed on different levels of scale, each with its own services.  At the lowest, “village-like” level, one would find the neighborhood with its small shopping center for the daily necessities of life. However, by the late 1950’s, the time when the lion’s share of the IJmuiden Reconstruction Plan had been completed, the neighborhood concept had already been abandoned. Rather than urban planning, it was the family which was given a central role in counteracting the negative effects of modern urbanization. And then, the cultural revolution of the 1960’s occurred...

The IJmuiden Reconstruction Plan has met the housing needs of the community for many decades.  A new expansion was added at the south-west corner of the plan in the 1960’s - the Zeewijk district - with its tall deck-access apartment blocks [Dutch: galerijflats], which were the landmarks of urban planning of the period.  Not until the end of the 20th century would the municipality of Velsen initiate another substantial urban expansion: the Velserbroek district.

Dudok’s residential construction plan for IJmuiden drew a vastly different type of inhabitant than the people whose homes still stood.  For the most part, the original owners returned to their old homes.  In the new homes, however, the majority of families had young children.  Election results also reflected these remarkable differences.  In the eastern section, which had been largely spared, a relatively large number of people voted for the Catholic People’s Party [KVP] as well as for the Dutch Communist Party (!), whereas there was a relatively high proportion of votes for the Dutch Anti-Revolutionary Party among the people of Old IJmuiden in the west.  Located in between, both geographically and politically, was the new housing development, among whose voters the Dutch Labor Party [PvdA] was well represented. Economic ties to the region were a central requirement for the return of war-time evacuees to IJmuiden.  The majority of families who had suffered unemployment and poverty during the depression, did not return.  With increasing and significant growth in the demand for workers, particularly at the steel mill [Hoogovens], all post-war immigrants in the IJmond region were subjected to employer-screening.  Collections: Gemeentearchief Velsen [Municipal Archives] and Koninklijke Bibliotheek [Royal Library] Den Haag [The Hague]  

Rebuilding Gemeente Velsen - Map detail IJmuiden

Sounddocument W. Beun



Rebuilding Gemeente Velsen - Map detail IJmuiden

Collection: noord-hollands archief beeldbank nr. 1000130 


Sloopzone tussen het Noordzeekanaal en de duinen in het westen van IJmuiden.

Plein 1945

Interview dhr. De Zeeuw

Rotonde aan het westelijk eind van de Lange Nieuwstraat

Willebrordstraat

Van der Zwaagstraat 

Lange Nieuwstraat / Spaarnestraat 

Interview de heer P. Heilig 

Lagersstraat IJmuiden-Oost 

Tankgracht Heerenduinen

Hoofdkwartier Schoonenberg (Festungsstab)

Lange Nieuwstraat / Markt 

Wederopbouw - deelplan IJmuiden

Buitensplaats Beeckestijn 

Landgoed Velserbeek 

Zeeweg 318 (thans Valeriuslaan) 

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