The former Utrecht Main Post Office (

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

: ''Hoofdpostkantoor Utrecht'', ''Post Neude'' or ''Post Utrecht'') building completed in 1924, is situated on Neude square,

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Since 2020 it has served as the headquarters of the Utrecht Public Library. A page using both "Post Neude" and "Post Utrecht" for the same main post office:

History

On the site, a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

dedicated to St. Cecilia was built around 1400 for the nuns of the

third order The term third order signifies, in general, lay members of Christian religious orders, who do not necessarily live in a religious community such as a monastery or a nunnery, and yet can claim to wear the religious habit and participate in the goo ...

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

. After the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

the building was possessed by the municipality of Utrecht and continued to exist until 1647. Afterwards, the Dutch National Mint was located here until its move as

Royal Dutch Mint The Royal Dutch Mint (, abbreviated ) is a company founded in 1567 that is responsible for producing, among others, euro Dutch euro coins, coins for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is currently located in Houten, Netherlands, where it moved to ...

to Leidseweg 90, Utrecht, in 1911. In the hall of the former post office a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

recalls this predecessor and the issue of the first Dutch stamp here on December 27, 1851. It is a donation by the Utrechtsche Philatelistenvereeniging (Utrecht Philatelist Society) and was designed by Dutch artist Maarten Pauw. The National Mint building at Neude was demolished and in 1919-1924 the main post office was constructed here, designed by architect Joseph Crouwel jr. (1885–1962). In the 1970s, the building was renovated under the direction of Dutch architect René van Raalte. In 2008, it was announced that

Fortis Fortis may refer to: Business * Fortis (Swiss watchmaker), a Swiss watch company * Fortis Films, an American film and television production company founded by actress and producer Sandra Bullock * Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals in ...

Vastgoed (now

ASR Nederland ASR Nederland is a major Dutch insurance group based in Utrecht. The company was created in its current form in 2008 when the insurance business was split out of Fortis, after it was acquired by the Dutch government during the 2008 financial cri ...

real estate development) would take over the building from the Dutch telecommunications company

KPN Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch List of telephone operating companies, telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterda ...

. On October 28, 2011, Utrecht Post closed as the very last independent

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

in the Netherlands. For some years the former post office could not be repurposed. Starting in 2016, the building was converted into a multipurpose

cultural centre A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

. Since 2020, the headquarters of the Utrecht public library has resided in the monumental building. This Neude branch of the municipal library was scheduled to open to the public on March 13, 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, this happened only in phases starting from May 11, 2020. On April 23, 2020, the new shop of Broese Booksellers in the rear of the former post office along the

Oudegracht The Oudegracht, or "old canal", runs through the center of Utrecht, the Netherlands. It starts in the southeast of the city. Here the Kromme Rijn (the original main bed of the Rhine river) and the Vaartse Rijn (a medieval canal reconnecting Utr ...

was opened by Utrecht

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Ronald Giphart Ronald Edgar Giphart (born 17 December 1965, in Dordrecht) is a Dutch writer. His best known books, '' Ik ook van jou'' (1992), '' Phileine zegt sorry'' (1996) and ''Ik omhels je met 1000 armen ''A Thousand Kisses'' () is a 2006 Dutch drama fil ...

Description

The former Main Post Office was designed by architect Joseph Crouwel jr. in the style of the

Amsterdamse School The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...

and was inspired by work of the Finnish architect

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish and American Architecture, architect known for his work with Art Nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Ee ...

. Construction began in 1919 and was completed in 1924. The hall of the building is impressive due to the high parabolic supporting arches. Six large

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

black statues made of Belgian

Petit Granit Petit Granit (also known by a variety of names including: Nero Belga, Granit de Flandre, Pierre Bleue, Blue Stone, Belgian Granite, Belgian Blue Limestone, Arduin) is, despite its name, a grey-bluish limestone, rather than being a true Granite. It ...

decorate the walls of the main entrance hall. Five of these are human figures representing the five continents (Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe) with corresponding animals, while a sixth statue symbolises trade and prosperity. The statues and ornaments were made by Hendrik van den Eijnde inspired by

ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

and

Assyrian sculpture Assyrian sculpture is the sculpture of the ancient Assyrian states, especially the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911 to 612 BC, which was centered around the city of Assur in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) which at its height, ruled over all of Mesopo ...

. Van den Eijnde also created the pair of white lion statues outside the front entrance at Neude square, which were added later at the request of and paid by Utrecht citizens. They were not part of the initial design. The interior large clock at the north end wall in the large entrance hall was produced by the De Porceleyne Fles company.

Richard Roland Holst Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst (4 December 1868, Amsterdam – 31 December 1938, Bloemendaal) was a Dutch painter, draftsman, lithographer, book cover designer, etcher and writer. Many of his works were in a modified Symbolist style. Life and wor ...

created the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

work above the entrance representing the

Dutch Maiden The Dutch Maiden ( Dutch: ''Nederlandse Maagd,'' Latin: ''Belgica'' or ''Belgia'') is a national personification of the Low Countries and - sometime after the secession of the Southern Netherlands - solely of the Dutch Republic, and its successor ...

in the garden of the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. In the 1970s, the building was renovated under the direction of Dutch architect René van Raalte. After the closure of the post office here in 2011, it was restructured from 2016 onward into both a large

and offices for the Utrecht Public Library. The centre includes a library, cinema, auditorium, two cafés and restaurants, exhibition spaces, workplaces for visitors and a large underground bicycle parking lot in the former telephone cable basement. A modern extension to the rear of the building (Oudegracht side) was added in the former courtyard to accommodate a large book shop.

PTT Telecom

The national state telecommunication service PTT Telecom, forerunner of KPN, has been a long-time co-user of this building. The various floors housed offices, telephone exchanges, and an amplifier station where long-distance connections converged. At PTT Telecom, this building was known as UT1. In the 1990s, much of the telephone traffic of the province of Utrecht and the

Betuwe Betuwe (), also known in English as Batavia ( ), is a historical and geographical region in the Netherlands, forming large fertile islands in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, river delta formed by the waters of the Rhine (Dutch: ''Rijn'') and ...

was handled via this building through the

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

AXE An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

traffic centre UT1F. In addition, there was a

5ESS The 5ESS Switching System is a Class 5 telephone electronic switching system developed by Western Electric for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) and the Bell System in the United States. It came into service in 1982 and the ...

centre UT1D serving the

Culemborg Culemborg () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. The city had a population of 29,386 on 1 January 2022 and is situated just south of the Lek River, Lek ...

(0345),

Tiel Tiel () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the middle of the Netherlands. The town is enclosed by the Waal (river), Waal river and the Linge river to the South and the North, and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal to the Eas ...

(0344) and

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

(0348) telephone areas. The 5ESS switchboard UT-C1G handled telephone traffic in parts of the city of Utrecht and surrounding towns such as

Maarssen Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-broek, whereas the east is called Maarssen-Dorp. The two localitie ...

and

Breukelen Breukelen () is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the northwest of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and tourist i ...

(0346). The cellar underneath the building accommodated the extensive telephone cables connecting Utrecht city.

Gallery

Zijingang postkantoor Neude.jpg, Side door on the south side, Neude square, Utrecht, 2008. Postkantoor Neude achterzijde.jpg, Post office northwest corner at Viestraat along Oudegracht (Old Canal) with the Neudeflat to the right, Utrecht, 2010. Europa P1080456.JPG, Wall statue in

stone representing the continent of Europe. In the background pigeons in yellow brick relief as symbols for the telegraph service, 2011. 20231124 PostUtrecht Gang.jpg, Corridor on an upper floor above the main hall, 2023. 20231124 PostUtrecht Klok.jpg, Large hall clock made by De Porceleyne Fles, 2023. 20231124 PostUtrecht Dak over Koepeldak.jpg, View of the roof construction from the top floor, 2023.

References

External links

* Photographs and other relevant documents can be retrieved from the Utrecht municipal and provincial archive ( Het Utrechts Archief, HUA) by querying its online database, *

Literature

* * * * * {{Authority control 1924 establishments in the Netherlands Former post office buildings Government buildings completed in 1924 Infrastructure in the Netherlands Postal system of the Netherlands U Rijksmonuments in Utrecht (city) Telecommunications in the Netherlands