NN and Dutch architect Berlage
In 1845, De Nederlanden van 1845, one of NN Group’s predecessors, was founded in Zutphen as a fire-insurer, quickly expanding its insurance activities with agencies all over the world. In 1895, director Carel Henny decided to move the head office from Zutphen to The Hague, as it seemed to be a better place for international contacts.
Henny’s personal connections in The Hague’s artistic and cultural circles led him to Hendrik Berlage, who was not yet the renowned architect he would later become. In 1895, Berlage completed his first commission for De Nederlanden—a branch office in Amsterdam. The following year, he designed the company’s new head office in The Hague.
Over the next few years, Berlage received assignments for branch offices in Nijmegen and Rotterdam (both destroyed in World War II), and also in Batavia (now Jakarta) and Utrecht. Berlage even designed two homes for Henny in The Hague, earning a reputation as the ‘house architect’ of De Nederlanden.
In 1925, Berlage began building the new head office for the company, at Groenhovenstraat in The Hague. This building was innovative in many ways. While not the first to use armoured concrete construction in a public building, Berlage was the first to leave the ferrocement exposed, combining it with red bricks and black glazed tiles to create a very characteristic colour effect.
On the ground floor, Berlage built two large, open office spaces for employees in the middle, surrounded by rooms for the superiors with glazed walls. Directors’ boardrooms were strategically positioned to facilitate communication with the superiors. This was one of the first office parks in the Netherlands. Critics were especially enthusiastic about the air conditioning that regulated the temperature and humidity, maintaining a comfortable environment throughout the year—an extraordinary concept at the time.
NN remained in the Groenhovenstraat office until 1996, when it relocated to its current head office, De Haagse Poort.
