Het Strijkijzer, but Not an Iron to Iron your Clothes With...

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Not all of the Hague’s iconic buildings are old historic ones.

This one literally sticks out because it’s now the third highest building in The Hague and  it’s hard to miss!

At 132 meters tall and 42 stories high, it  is situated on the Rijswijkseplein close to Hollandspoor Station, one of the Hague two major train stations.

It’s triangular in shape and as soon as it was discovered that in an areal view it looks just like an iron (the sort you press clothes with) it was quickly dubbed the “het strijkizer“,  since a “strijkizer” is the Dutch word for an iron. (The pronunciation in Dutch = “stry-keizer”).

Inspired by the (1902) Flatiron building in New York City, “Het Strijkizer” was opened in October of 2007  and houses 51  luxury apartments that are separated by the rest of the building by private lifts and 300 studio apartment for students.

The Haagse Hogeschool. which is higher education but not University (= what I would call Polytech in New Zealand)  is just a few minutes walk away, on the opposite side of the Hollandspoor station). A few of the studio apartments are also starter homes for young people.

There are offices, various small businesses on the bottom floors of the building.

The building has been constructed on a  remarkably small footprint and was in the news for all the wrong reasons soon after construction was completed because the shape of the top of the building produced a loud high-pitched whistling sound every time there was a high wind.

The top of the building had to undergo  major alterations that involved  the attachment of some 380 plywood sheets to fix the problem and work is ongoing to find a more visually pleasing long term solution.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)