De Adriaan
De Adriaan is a windmill in Haarlem.
History of De Adriaan
Goevrouwetoren
De Adriaan was officially opened on May 19th, 1779. At that time, the windmill was located on the border of the main city. It was built on the foundations of the Goevrouwetoren, or Goede Vrouwtoren. This was an tower that was part of the city's defences. It was demolished to make place for the windmill. The towers are no longer useful for the defense of the city, as the city border had moved to the north.
Although the foundation of the Goevrouwetoren was used, the new owner of the windmill made the foundation stronger and added extra wooden supporting poles for his windmill. The tower and the land around it were sold by the municipality of Haarlem to Adriaan de Booys, a industrial producer from Amsterdam on April 24th, 1778. The use of the old foundation made the tower stick out above the city: the highest point of the mill is about 34 meters above the water level in the river. This was of course useful for the windmill, as it could catch more wind.
De Booys was granted permission to build a windmill that would produce cement, paint, and tan. The latter is the bark of an oak (or other tree) that has been processed by the mill and can be used to tan hides. The windmill was built under supervision of miller Henricus Ruijsch from Waddinxveen.
De Booy earned the concession to be the sole producer of cement in the city for 25 years.
The Adriaan is located at the river Spaarne. Nowadays the windmill is in the middle of the city, but for a long time the windmill was a very visible building, right at the entrance of the city.
The original owner, De Booys, sold the windmill to Cornelis Kraan in 1802. The monopoly on cement had not been as lucrative as De Booys had hoped for; a competitor evaded the law by importing cement from Dordrecht. The windmill was sold for 1650 guilders, and Kraan converted the mill into a tabacco mill, to produce tobacco snuff.
In 1865 a steam engine was placed in the windmill by a new owner, J. van Berloo, to make it more competitive in the market. However, it was not efficient enough, and it was to be put down. Then in 1925 the windmill was bought by the Dutch windmill society Vereniging De Hollandsche Molen to prevent demolition. They paid 12,100 guilders for the mill.
In a storm in 1930 the mill was severely damaged.
Fire
On the evening of April 23rd, 1932 the windmill burnt down. The firebrigade arrived quickly but could not prevent the complete burning down of the mill. This event was a shock for many citizens of the city; the cause of the fire has never been established.
Immediately after the fire, citizens of Haarlem collected money to pay for the rebuilding of the mill. The insurance money, 12.165 guilders, had to be used to pay of the mortgage on the mill. The renovation had to be postponed until the economical situation improved (1930s).
Rebuilding
The municipality of Haarlem made a large amount of money available in 1938 for the renovation of the mill, but this was overruled by the provincal council because of the bad economic situation.
In 1963 the Haarlem municipality became owner of the mill and tried to restore it. That failed, however, due to a lack of funds.
In September 1985 a plan was presented by the architects Braaksma and Roos for renovation of the Scheepsmakersdijk; and their plan included a renovated windmill. In 1995 detailed plans are made by the Haarlem municipality and on April, 21st 1999 the first pole is put in the ground.
De Adriaan was rebuilt on the original foundations of the old windmill. Windmill De Adriaan was reopened on April 23rd 2002, exactly 70 years after the fire. The current owner is
