Brandweerkazerne

The Brandweerkazerne is a fire station in Antwerp, built between 1912 and 1922 as the main station for the port area. City architect Alexis van Mechelen drew the design, and Emiel van Averbeke finished it after his death in 1919. The design couples the working needs of a fire brigade with the architectural ambitions of the early twentieth century.

A tower about twenty metres high dominates the whole building. Firefighters dried their hoses in it and used it for training exercises. A decorated spire was planned above it but never built, probably because the marshy ground could not carry the extra weight. The large open courtyard draws its inspiration from the Hanzehuis, a palazzo-like building that stood on the site of today's MAS museum. Hose tests took place here twice a week, and the tower makes its strongest impression from this space. If you look closely at the upper windows, you can spot anchor holes. These once held beams for work on the roof and the façades. When the building became the Havenhuis, these same holes carried the glass dome added over the courtyard.

Inside, the main spaces have no load-bearing walls, only columns, so partitions can be added or removed as needs change. Most fireplaces and decorative elements disappeared early on, but the staircases keep their distinctive tiles. A fire in April 1954 destroyed three of the four roof sections. Only the southern part, which sits lower than the others, kept its original wooden structure, while the rest was rebuilt in concrete. Since 2000 the fire station has been a protected monument. Plans have been drawn up to turn it into family housing, keeping high corridors and practical details like washbasins and coat hooks. The plan reimagines the courtyard as a shared living space, and the old hose-drying tower is set to hold a lift shaft.