The Pier of Scheveningen

The Walking Pier Queen Wilhelmina , the first pier of Scheveningen , was designed by architect WB of Liefland designed commissioned by sea resort Scheveningen Society ( EMS) and Prince Henry opened on May 6, 1901.

This wooden structure on a steel chassis was directly behind the Kurhaus . From the hotel had made ​​a bridge across the boulevard from the terrace so guests could expire . 372 meters long and 8 meters wide promenade Halfway was a central compartment of 37 to 26 meters with a " cozy tent for royal guests" and at the end an octagonal platform with a well octagonal pavilion. In the pavilion, which had a diameter of 37.7 meters and a height of 15.7 meters inside , 1200 visitors of music performances , theater performances and acrobatics could enjoy . On the outside there were seven shops selling fruit , cigars and snacks could be purchased . In 1940 the entrance 0.15 Dutch florin (that's less than €0,07).

In the Second World War, the pavilion was used by the Germans as storage and there was artillery placed on the pier. To complicate an invasion of the Allies 30 meter promenade was removed and fitted with a suspension bridge. On March 26, 1943 the pavilion burned out completely . Although Scheveningen since 1942 ' ​​Sperrgebiet ' this news quickly penetrated to the Hague by population. After the fire , the Germans demolished the pier by sawing off the wooden structure of the poles , presumably because they were afraid that the pier could be a sea-borne expedition utilized by the Allies.

On September 17, 1959 the construction of the new pier was opened by Mayor Hans Kolfschoten Hague , who had also advocated by Minister Herman White of Reconstruction.The new pier was build a little further north to be lower than the previous one.

In 1991, found a buyer in catering group Van der Valk, they took over the pier for the symbolic sum of one guilder ( 45 Eurocents). In the next ten years , Van der Valk rennovated 118 of 187 concrete pillars and in 1994 the group opened a new restaurant on the sunny island. In 1996, the tower, which was on July 17, 1994 a visitor fall through the rotten floor was lowered, refurbished and started the renovation of the promenade , where it was completely covered in 1998

After the completion of the work by Van der Valk in 2001 the Pier quickly came to abandonned. After previous major fires in 1968 and 1994 broke the night of 5 September 6, 2011 a fire in a building above the Treasure Island. The firefighters had the fire under control quickly and there were no injuries, but the amusement was heavily damaged and the island has since been closed to the public. Van der Valk made ​​on March 19, 2012 known to offer for sale the pier because of the high maintenance costs made ​​possible a profitable operation .

The steel island is so affected by rust that it probably can not be recovered .

(Source by Wikipedia)