Pumping station Leemans - Wieringerwerf

You are standing here in front of an impressive piece of engineering and architecture. With this building, the development of the polder began. This pumping station was commissioned in 1930 and played a leading role in draining the Wieringermeer. Together with the Lely Pumping Station, it drained no less than 20,000 hectares of polder in just six months. The pumping station is named after Wilhelmus Leemans, chief inspector of Rijkswaterstaat and a key figure in the Zuiderzee Works.

The pumping stations were deliberately designed differently. Leemans ran on diesel, Lely on electricity. This way, pumping could always continue, even in case of a power failure or fuel shortage.

Take a good look at the building. The design is by Dirk Roosenburg, an architect who worked in the style of Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. You can see this in the clean lines, functional shapes and the use of white-painted concrete.

The design of the building is also related to the land reclamation. The long horizontal facades follow the line of the dike and emphasise the relationship between man and landscape. Notice the windows in a repeating pattern: they give the building an industrial character. And if you look at the concrete, you can still see the imprints of the wooden formwork, a subtle reference to the craftsmanship of the time.

Together with the lock, the transformer house and the diesel oil tanks, Leemans Pumping Station forms a protected national monument. The pumping station was renovated in 1994 and is still in operation.

But the surrounding landscape was also carefully designed, with straight parceling and straight roads and avenues. The farms, each with their own architectural style adapted to the type of business, are unique in the Netherlands. The plan for this layout came from the Wieringermeer Directorate. The villages were designed by architect Granpré Molière, the green design by landscape architect J.T.P. Bijhouwer.

One more special detail: nearby are the casemates, bunkers from the Second World War. There was never any fighting here, but they are definitely worth a visit.