 2002
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March featured the opening of Brasserie National. The building was ready as of May and Forum organised its first events. Also in the month of May, the offices of the Flanders Fashion Institute moved to the Nationalestraat. The fashion department of Artesis Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen moved into the building during the summer vacation, to start the academic year 2002-2003 in the new quarters. On 21st of September, the new fashion museum MoMu opened its doors with a big festival.
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| 2001
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On the morning of 17th May 2001, Antwerp woke up to the sight of a fluorescent
yellow surface on the façade of the ModeNatie. This was the herald
of the fashion event MODE 2001 LANDED GELAND, created under the aegis
of the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck. In the course of the following
four months, the coloured fields and flower beds were to be conspicuous
throughout the city, emphasising the event. The B-architects were put
in charge of integrating them fittingly into the urban landscape.
In December, Copyright Bookshop was the first concern to open its doors
in the new building. |
Photo
: Koen Van Damme/Archive Vincent Van Duysen Architects
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© Promotie Antwerpen Open vzw - Photo : Wim
Wauman
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1997-2000
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At the end of 1997, the city of Antwerp allocated the building
to the Flanders Fashion Institute. It was as a result of this that the
FFI’s concept of the foundation of a new international fashion centre
finally took shape. From 1998 onwards, the building was regularly used
as a promotional showcase for events and exhibitions organised by the
FFI, such as Vitrine, Fashion For Van Dyck (during the Antwerp Van Dyck
year 1999),… In 1999, Marie-José van Hee, the Ghent architect,
was approached to undertake the renovation works at ModeNatie. During
Vitrine 2000, the building was hung with large canvasses showing designs
by various Antwerp designers. In 2000, the ground floor of the building
was also used by graduating students of the fashion department at the
Antwerp Academy to exhibit their designs. In August 2000, an official
start was made on the renovation of the ModeNatie.
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Photos:
Mich Verbeelen/Archive Triquetra Communications
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Beschermde Werkplaats
Photo Archive FFI |
1965-1990
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In the mid-sixties EBES (formerly L’Escaut) sold the buildings
to the city of Antwerp. The workshops and the offices of
the Beschermde Werkplaats (Sheltered Workplace), a social
institution founded by the city of Antwerp, were moved into
the building.
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The New England haberdashery was completely taken
over by the offices of the association of war invalids and a currency
exchange. In the meantime, the electricity supplier L’ Escaut
and the Antwerp electricity company leased premises in the building
too. The building housed the administrative services of L’Escaut
together with a showroom for electric fittings. The old Antwerp population
called the building simply ‘Den Ellentrik’. In 1950, the
offices of the IMEA radio distribution company also moved there. |
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L’ Escaut – Photos: Archive Electrabel
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1908-1910
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During this period, the Compagnie Générale Coöpérative
Charbonnière was joined by 28 other firms that established themselves
around and above the Einmahl haberdashery. In 1910 the premises were enlarged. |
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1908
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Due to lack of business, the rooms at the Hotel Central were remodelled
to serve as offices for the Compagnie Générale Coöpérative
Charbonnière, a corporation dealing in coal, coke and briquettes. |
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1894-1908
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The haberdasher Pierre Einmahl moved his business from the Meir
to the new building in Nationalestraat. On the ground floor, he opened
his store called New England, an outlet of ready-to-wear clothes for
boys and gentlemen.
A certain A. Bardelli started a luxury hotel, the Hotel Central, in the
building.
The Siamese Consulate also took up quarters in the building.
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Hotel
Central - Photos : Archive Frans Lauwers
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1893
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Alphonse Van De Put purchased from Pierquin the parcel of land
that was created by the widening of the Boeksteeg. He wanted to turn it
into a building complex of leased premises. The plans were drawn up by
architect Ernest Dieltiens. Dieltiens was also responsible for the construction
of the Church of St Norbertus (in Antwerp) and, besides being an architect,
also taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. |
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1876-1884
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On 31st October, Antwerp city council commissioned the Parisian
contractor Hubert Pierquin to start drastic demolition work in the Boeksteeg.
This resulted in the creation of a Paris-type boulevard measuring 15 m
wide and 700 m long, which extended from the Ijzerenwaag all the way up
to the Groenplaats. And so the Nationalestraat was born. This street was
meant to connect the Groenplaats with a totally new district in the southern
section of the city. The South was to become an area modelled on Parisian
neighbourhoods with many wide streets lined with patrician mansions. In
1884, what remained of the small Ijzerenwaag square was graced by the
statue of the Belgian poet Theodoor Van Rijswijck. |
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19th Century -->top
In the 19th century, the Nationalestraat was still called Boeksteeg and the Drukkerijstraat was known as the Voddenstraat. The Boeksteeg or Bucsteeg, one of the longest streets in Antwerp, ran from the Ijzerenwaag all the way to the Kronenburgstraat and behind each side lay a maze of lanes and doorways. Only one tavern with the former street name (in the present Nationalestraat) still recalls those distant days.
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