Old Building Made New Again

Why is the bunker still there? The answer is easy: the bunker cannot be safely removed. From the 1950s onwards, people have tried to bring down the building, but without success (Fig. 1). The only way to get rid of it is by using explosives, which would be too big a risk for the neighborhood. A resident commented: “If you want to explode the bunker, you explode half the neighborhood as well.” In December 1985 it was decided that there was no other option than to let the building stand.

Fifty years after the building was put out of use, a new interest arose in the historical value of the building. In 2014, it was registered as a monument in the municipality. The overgrown bunker even turned out to be more special than expected. It is the only German bunker in the urban area of Leiden, and according to the heritage register there are only 17 bunkers of this type, Groβschaltstelle type 616, in all of the Netherlands.

In 2016, attention was once again drawn to the bunker, but this time because of a design contest for tiny houses in Leiden. One architect had the idea to build tiny houses on top of the bunker (Fig. 2). However, the plans were not executed, which means it still looks the same as it did right after the war.