Sails of the Mill, Lost to the Winds of Time...

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This is another  post  from my archive folder  that features the Billboard series that  the Haags Gemeentearchief (the Hague City Council Archive) placed around the city  to celebrate their 125th Anniversary a while back.

Sadly they have all since been removed, but I managed to photograph most of them before they were.

Situated as close to the spot as possible (and where practical) to where the original photos were taken,  when the billboards were in place, viewers could see both the past and present views.

This one is fairly close to the city centre and is titled:  “Noordmolen in de Zeestraat afgebroken in 1858“,   which translates rather literally into English as:  “North Mill on the SeaStreet, demolished 1858″).

Many of the  buildings that now stand in the area, are at least one hundred years old and naturally, being so close to the city centre, commercial values in this area have sky-rocketed in the last century.

“Noordmolen in de Zeestraat” is one of the earliest photographs to feature in the billboard series, and considering its location  it would be  naive indeed to have expected little change to have taken place here.

The canal on the right, has long been filled in (although you will find a pond, stream on the Scheveningseweg side of the “Vredespaleis” (Peace Palace) on the Carnegieplein very close by).

Contrast the “then” and “now” by taking a look around… the first buildings are in the left side of the street,  facing the same way as the view in the billboard, and the later photo shows the right side of the street at what would have been the right side of the mill.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)