(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Another posting in my series of historic photos that had been posted on large billboards around the city of the Hague by the The Haagse Gemeentearchief (the Hague City Council Archive).
All of them are photos of various points in the city taken between 20 and 150 years ago… and all are situated as close to the spot as possible (and where practical) to where the original photos were taken, so that viewers can see both the past and present views.
Even though the billboards are long gone now, I went and took photos of many of them whilst they were up and have been trying to look up any historical information on them so that I can learn more about what The Hague was like in bygone times.
This billboard photo shows the Tournooiveld , and a large building on it, amongst the information I found about this area is that in the 17th and 18th centuries, this was the area where the “ Leydsche wagenveer” coach service would come to take people to to the city of Leiden, and apparently there used to be five of these beautiful 17th century buildings here but three of them were demolished some time in the 20th century.
The title of the billboard is ” Tournooiveld 1, het huis van Caen. 1860” which translates Tournooiveld (street/location) house of Caen 1860″. Please note that the number 1 in this case denotes that it’s the first of two billboards at this location and isn’t the street number of the building in question.
Whilst I couldn’t find information on the exact positions of the houses were that had been demolished, but since the buildings in the “then” and “now” photographs don’t match at all, it’s fair to assume that this must have been one of them.
What a shame, since the old building looked very grand and beautiful. Sigh, “progress” eh? One saving grace is that at least the broad and leafy boulevard remains, this time trams take the place of horse and carriage and traffic, but no, sadly you can’t catch a tram directly to Leiden.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
i enjoyed playing Spot the Differences, Some of the same trees is all I could see the same.
Comment by Lisa — July 10, 2011 @ 10:16 pm |
That looked like such a lovely, stately building. Such a shame it was torn down.
I think Utrecht is starting to post some similar boards around town. I noticed this weekend that one of the old narrow streets that I love so much has some boards up on one of the walls with old photos and information about the street and area. I’m curious to see if they are popping up elsewhere in town now.
Comment by Alison — July 11, 2011 @ 12:30 pm |
If you have some similar of Utrecht, I’d love to see them please please please, Pippo needs walkies to these billboards LOL.,
I’ve discovered in recent years that I am a closet history geek (grin) and just LOVE seeing how places change (or, sometimes more amazingly, don’t) over time. It’s really fascinating!
Comment by kiwidutch — July 11, 2011 @ 3:56 pm |