ABSTRACT
In the late 1920s, one of the most innovative and remarkable inter-war Functionalist buildings, the Van Nelle Factory, (Figure 1.10) was being built beside a canal in Overschie, Rotterdam. Expressive in both its construction and its operation, the three parts of the building indicated the separate tobacco, coffee and tea processing halls and the high-level chutes and gangways showed the upward direction in which the raw produce moved from waterfront to processing hall. This building was largely the result of the sustained effort, commercial vision and the theosophical concept of “cooperation” of a young director of the Van Nelle company, Cornells (Kees) Hendrick van der Leeuw. Well-connected and highly educated – he had studied under Sigmund Freud – he was expected, as the eldest son of M.A.C. van der Leeuw, to join his father on the Van Nelle board, although his inclination was towards a life in the arts. Nevertheless, through an apprenticeship with a German branch of the company in Bremen and an exploratory business visit to the United States, to see the Kentucky tobacco plantations, in 1912, he prepared himself for the firm and took up a place on the Van Nelle board on his return. 1 It was from this position, before taking over leadership of the firm in 1926, that throughout the Great War he had promoted the building of a new factory and eventually appointed the precocious Johannes (Jan) Brinkman and Leendert Cornells van der Vlugt as architects. Jan’s father, Michiel Brinkman, had been architect to the Van Nelle company since before the war and had prepared initial plans for the factory Kees van der Leeuw envisaged on the Overschie site in Rotterdam. But Brinkman’s sudden death in February 1925 nearly lost the firm the contract, for Jan, aged 23 and still a student, was not thought to be up to the responsibilities of this major project. So a deal was struck whereby the contract could remain with the Brinkman office if the Van Nelle company could appoint a collaborating architect. Kees van der Leeuw had first hoped to secure J.J.P. Oud, but eventually came to an agreement with Leendert van der Vlugt who, although only 31 years old, had established a reputation as a leading Functionalist. 2 He was asked to design the building and thus joined Brinkman in partnership. 3
