(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Another post in my “Billboard” series, discovering the old and new behind the The Haags Gemeentearchief (the Hague City Council Archive) Billboards that were set up for the short time to celebrate their 125 year anniversary.
This building shows the headquarters of the Royal Dutch Shell Group on the de Carel van Bylandtlaan in the Hague.
The text on the billboard says: “Bataafsche Petroleummaatschappij aan de Carel van Bylandtlaan circa 1920“
…which is a little hard to translate literally, so maybe it’s easier to tell you that the “de Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij“ refers to an old Dutch oil company which was a predecessor of NAM Nederlands aardgas maatschappi (Dutch Natural Gas company).
“Carel van Bylandtlaan” is the street name where the building is located and where the billboard photo was taken in 1920.
The first thing that is immediately apparent is that the building has been greatly expanded… but Wow, without the billboard to compare things to, you would never know. If only more “extensions” these days could be so sympathetically done!
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I took photos of the building and wanted to take some more detailed close ups of the ironwork on the doors. However, the buildings’ security staff came out and said that whilst they were happy for me to photograph the building itself, to please not photograph any closeups of the doors.
Therefore, you’ll have to make do with a close-up of part of the stonework further up instead.
I did some research on the company and via their website found various bits of information which I have written up here…
Marcus Samuel was a London antique dealer who wanted to expand his business.
In 1833 he added oriental shells to his stock to capitalize on the new craze of using them in interior design. Demand grew to the extent that he began importing shells from the Far East, thus began Marcus Samuel’s import and export business.
By 1886 the business was in the hands of sons Sam and Marcus Samuel junior and well established in the export of machinery, tools and textiles, and the import of rice. copper, silk and china to and from the Far East and also the trade in commodities of sugar, flour and wheat worldwide.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
On a trip to Japan, Marcus jr. became aware of the newly developing oil trade and saw a solution for a problem in the industry. Oil was being transported in barrels, which were prone to leaking and their shape did not best utilize the space on the holds of the ships transporting them.
Marcus and Sam commissioned steamers that could hold oil in large compartments, then thus the first bulk oil tanker the “Murex” was born.
They quietly built bulk oil storage units at ports, using for the first time, the new Suez Canal.
They worked quietly and quickly so that news would not leak out to the dominant oil company of the day, Rockefeller’s “Standard Oil“.
The maiden voyage of the “Murex” through the Suez Canal revolutionised oil transportation and greatly reduced the cost by vastly increasing the volume that could be carried per ship.
Marcus jr and Sam initially called their company “The Tank Syndicate” but in 1897 renamed it the “Shell Transport and Trading Company.”
When a major oilfield was discovered in Sumatra, J.B August Kessler of the “Royal Dutch” company oversaw the building of pipelines and a refinery at Pankalan Brandan. Kessler was joined in 1896 by a young marketing director, Henry Deterding who was instrumental within the company until the outbreak of World War Two.
Marcus Samuel’s dependence on his Russian producers left him vulnerable and he decided to seek other sources of oil, and the Far East was the next logical step. In Borneo he came up against Royal Dutch Petroleum, one of the region’s biggest competitors.
The two companies joined forces to protect themselves against the might of Standard Oil, forming a sales organisation in 1903, called the “Asiatic Petroleum Company“. They went on to discover of oil in Texas.
Full merger of the two companies into the “Royal Dutch Shell Group” came in 1907. There were two separate holding companies with Royal Dutch taking 60% of earnings and Shell Transport taking 40%. The merger transformed the fortunes of both companies. Under the management of Henry Deterding they turned from struggling entities to successful enterprises within twelve months.
In 1904, the scallop shell or “pecten” replaced Shell Transport’s first marketing logo, a mussel shell. In various forms it has remained in use ever since, becoming one of the best known corporate symbols in the world.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
