BUILDINGS

At the heritage park some buildings are already in use, the construction of other buildings is planned for the years to come. All buildings are constructed in wood and in the authentic Zaan Region style.

Timber storage shed from Westzaan

The history of timber company PontMeyer, since 1991 situated at Zuideinde, Westzaan begins in 1886 with a trade in firewood founded by Pieter Rot.. This developed into a timber trading company and in 1918 the buildings and land of the discontinued timber trade De Lange & Sons were acquired. This included the steam woodsawing company "de Huismus" (house sparrow) built on the site of a mill with the same name which was destroyed by a fire in 1875. In 1918 the name was changed into "De Adelaar"(eagle). In 1938 with a planing and framing factory was started. The name Rot was changed into Rote in 1945, which name appeals more in the timber business. After the second World War large timber storage buildings were added of 100m length and 20m width. The ditches between the old buildings were filled up and instead of water-borne transportation the company changed to lorry viz. road transportation.

In recent years Parteon had been looking for a suitable destination for the monumental timber shed. It turned out that several interested parties, after negotiation with the respective municipalities, were unable to obtain the necessary licence to have the building placed at the by them intended location.

To a large extent the shed and parts are still in their original state
Contact was made between the management of Parteon and that of Stichting Industrieel Erfgoedpark "De Hoop" in Uitgeest mid 2007 and after extensive negotiations and discussion it appeared that the monumental shed would fit perfectly within the framework of the heritage centre under development. Moreover, with regard to the Planning Commission's regulations, the municipality of Uitgeest was willing to cooperate.
The development plans of the heritage centre (designed by architects Piet Wierenga, Castricum and Jaap Schipper, Amsterdam) include the construction of "representative buildings" dating from various periods of Zaanse timberframing construction. Thus the Westzaan timber shed is a welcome and authentic addition.

Visitor's centre 'Het Pakhuis' ('The Warehouse')
At the end of 2004 a start will be made with the construction of the permanent exhibition centre 'Het Pakhuis'. This building is aimed for receiving visitors, the organisation of permanent and temporary exhibitions and for arranging (audio visual) presentations on the ground floor as well as in the planned auditorium on the upper floor.. A part of the exhibition space will be used to exhibit the craftsmen's tool collection controlled by the Industrial Heritage Park Foundation 'De Hoop' . The building will be accessible to disabled people.

Paltrokmill 'De Hoop'
The reconstruction of paltrok mill 'De Hoop' will be the most important activity at the heritage park and a fascinating and interesting experience for the visitors. In the sawmill the invention of Cornelis Corneliszoon van Uitgeest 'the special crankshaft' will be applied. The reconstruction will be executed by an experienced millwright, assisted by apprentices who are trained to become skilled carpenters and once completed the mill will be used to saw trunks into beams.

Out of the several hundreds of paltrok sawmills which were once in operation in the Netherlands, only five remain. One of them, called 'De Otter', resembles 'De Hoop' with respect to both its size and date of construction (1631). However this mill in Amsterdam, and suffers from a dramatic lack of wind due to high buildings in the nearby vicinity, and because of this there is a fair chance that, in stead of reconstructing 'De Hoop' in the park, the Amsterdam paltrok will be moved to Uitgeest which will be a spectacular operation.

Board Sawmill "The Young Lion" (De Jonge Leeuw)
Dating from 1910, this mill originally operated in the Frisian Winsum area as a polder mill under the name "De Wester". When this so-called "monks' mill" was not used any longer in the fifties/sixties of the last century deterioration set in. It was demolished between 1977 and 1980 and the various parts were stored and almost forgotten. Mr De Leeuw, descending from a mill maker lineage and director owner of the construction company and mill maker "De Leeuw BV" in Schagen, traced the remains and succeeded in obtaining these. After long research the correct sail-arms were found and restoration in a professional way could begin.
In the winter and spring of 2008 volunteers installed a supporting structure and scaffolding on and in the drying shed. At long last, on May 3 with the help of a crane the mill was placed on this construction in two individual parts and with this a sincere wish of SIEDH was realised. In honour of Mr De Leeuw it was decided to christen the mill with a new name "The Young Lion".

During the National Windmill days on May 10 and 11, 2008 the spectators could admire the mill for the first time with turning sails. In the course of 2008 the mechanism will be adapted sothat the mill can drive the woodworking machines. A photoseries of this event can be seen here.

Ship-yard
In the final design of the heritage park a small shipyard will be built. In this yard, with a slipway to the Alkmaar & Uitgeest Lake, repair and renovation of traditional, mainly wooden ships will be performed. In the past shipyards were located in the neighborhood of sawmills.
In 2004 a young shipwright started the reconstruction of a wooden sailing ship, based on a fisherman's boat which was originally used for fishing anchovy in the 19th century. Visitors can take a close view on the progress being made.

Carpenter's shop 'De Juffer' (The Young Lady)
In the past many wood processing companies could be found in the neighborhood of sawmills, for example: ship-yards, cartwright's shops, furniture-factories etc., where traditional and industrial methods for processing wood and manufacturing wooden objects were applied. Carpenter shop 'De Juffer' was built in a 19th century Zaan Region style. The building accommodates a modern, well equipped carpenter's workshop to train young people in specialised restoration and renovation techniques, and for the maintenance of windmills and the production of wooden windmill parts.

Drying shed
A drying shed, with a miller's hut has been erected to replicate the original 18th century Zaan Region style.. In the shed wood is stored in a natural way till it is dry enough to be used, and in the future, beams sawn by paltrokmill 'De Hoop' will be dried here too.
In the winter and spring of 2008 volunteers installed a supporting structure and scaffolding on and in the drying shed. At long last, on May 3 with the help of a crane the mill was placed on this construction in two individual parts and with this a sincere wish of SIEDH was realised.

Restaurant
At the moment the heritage park does not have a restaurant. However there are advanced plans to start the construction of a restaurant which will be accommodated within a building of an early 20th Century Zaan Region style.