The Hoogeveen Family on Morsweg 46

Just like the city villa Naomi (number 44), the house next to it (number 46) was built close to the water with a backyard on the waterside that was overshadowed by the factory. If we look closely at the photo from 1919, we can see that there is a family on the balcony of the house on number 46, right next to Naomi. This family must have been Cornelis Petrus Hoogeveen, his wife Mathilde Jean and their children. Hoogeveen worked as a carpenter. His great-granddaughter Petra Hoogeveen still lives in the neighborhood and recounts about her great-grandfather: “Yes, he was a carpenter, but he also owned a lot of houses in the city. Now you might call him a slumlord.”

The daughters in the photo, aunt Til and aunt Wies, as the grandchildren called them, remained unmarried. The two sons, Cornelis (Kees) and Jean Jacques did marry. Jean Jacques, Petra’s grandfather, died at a young age after being hit by a car in Wassenaar, and left behind a young family. The old Hoogeveen fulfilled the role of head of the household from then on. As such, Jean Jacques’ son, Petra’s father, used to visit the house on the Morsweg a lot. In an old family album, Petra found a photo of her father, together with her great-grandfather and aunt Til in front of the house (fig. 2). Her father later told her about the discomfort they experienced from the fans of the factory that would blow right into their garden, but old Mr. Hoogeveen put an end to that. The Naomi building still exists, but the student flat stands where the house of Petra’s ancestors once stood. The Pel brothers’ candy factory was likewise taken over by the student flat.