A decade after the historic centre of Rotterdam was largely destroyed by bombing during the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the city set about building a replacement.

The old centre had its faults: narrow streets, alleys and canals that hindered the passage of traffic. The postwar city council seized the opportunity to build a modern centre and straighten the street pattern. The idea was to give Rotterdammers “what they had, but improved and refined”, according to the architect Jo van den Broek, who embodied the optimistic spirit that ruled Rotterdam at the time.

The Lijnbaan was a luxurious oasis built upon an open wound Astrid Aarsen

When it opened in 1953, the Lijnbaan was the first purpose-built pedestrian street in Europe. It was a completely car-free zone – unheard of at the time.

“It was a pretty audacious concept,” says the architect Frans Hooykaas. “Initially, many shopkeepers didn’t want a business there, because they thought customers would avoid an area they couldn’t reach by car.”

He was 14 when the Lijnbaan opened and later worked for 29 years for the architectural firm that designed it: Van den Broek en Bakema, the most famous modern Dutch architects at the time.

The ruins of Rotterdam in 1940. Photograph: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty

In spite of the shopkeepers’ fears, the Lijnbaan proved a great success. It became a popular area not only for shopping but also for recreation. People came to take a stroll, gaze at the luxurious shop windows or sit on a terrace to watch the crowd and meet friends.

“The Lijnbaan became a living room for the city,” says the architectural historian Astrid Aarsen, who lived for five years on the Lijnbaan and wrote a book on its history called 60 Years of Lijnbaan: the Heart of the Rotterdam Reconstruction. “The absence of traffic created an atmosphere of safety and relaxation.

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“The Lijnbaan was a luxurious oasis built upon an open wound. It was an optimistic gesture towards the future, it expressed the hope for a better life after the war. People used to put on their best clothes when they went there.”

At the time, a stroll down the Lijnbaan was an exceptional experience. There was a range of about 70 high-quality shops and along the promenade there were flower beds, benches, statues and aviaries. Wooden canopies offered protection when it rained.

“Buses from all over the Netherlands brought throngs of people who were amazed by this new phenomenon and were very eager to shop,” says Mia Giesbers, who owned the once famous fashion store Meddens in the heart of the Lijnbaan. “It was great for us, because we would sell 35 suede jackets in the space of two hours.”

People relax in a cafe on the Lijnbaan in 1960. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/Getty

A visit from Mr Mall

The Lijnbaan attracted the attention of journalists and architects from all over the world and was copied many times. The cities of Warsaw, Prague, and Hamburg built shopping promenades inspired by the Lijnbaan and it served as an example for Stevenage, the first pedestrianised shopping centre in Britain.

Hooykaas remembers a visit from the famous Austrian architect Victor Gruen. “Gruen built many shopping malls all over the US. His nickname was Mr Mall, because he was considered the pioneer of the American shopping mall. It was a bit of a disappointment for him that we built the Lijnbaan a year before his first shopping mall opened,” he smiles.

But there was a big difference between Gruen’s projects and the Lijnbaan. Gruen mostly built his malls on the outskirts of towns, whereas the Lijnbaan became the throbbing heart of the new postwar Rotterdam. Hooykaas says: “I think that only could have happened because it was such a remarkable design.

“It was a shopping centre on a human scale that gave you the feeling that while walking down the street, you moved from room to room.”

The Lijnbaan inspired Stevenage, pictured in 1972. Photograph: ANL/Rex/Shutterstock

A decline took hold in the 1980s. The original shopkeepers retired or left the area, to be replaced by large chains solely intent on turnover. Where once there had been a variety of high-end shops, there was now a multitude of cheap clothing and shoe shops. It attracted a different crowd. The terraces and aviaries disappeared, and people threw rubbish in the empty flowerboxes.

At night the roller shutters went down and the Lijnbaan became a no-go area, where people were robbed and football hooligans would gather after games.

All kinds of solutions were suggested by urban planners, from demolishing part of the complex to putting a giant roof over the complete promenade. In the end not much happened. New canopies of plexiglass were installed in the 1990s, to little effect because not all shopkeepers participated.

“Nobody was interested in the Lijnbaan anymore,” Aarsen explains. “Most people regarded it as a heap of old trash”.

The recently renovated Lijnbaan at dusk. Photograph: franswillemblok/Getty Images

Most people, but not all. The Docomomo Foundation, which promotes architecture of the Modern Movement, saw the Lijnbaan as an innovative example of postwar architecture. Thank to its efforts, the street acquired the national heritage status in 2010. “This was a turning point,” says Aarsen.

Nowadays the Lijnbaan has resurfaced as an area were a mainly young public comes to shop and meet. The roller shutters have gone and the place feels safe again.

Large fashion and shoe chains still dominate but some of the old atmosphere is returning thanks to a project by the owners’ association to bring back the original facades.

“The Lijnbaan is a fine example of a style we call mid-century modern,” says the architect Robert Winkel. “There’s a growing appreciation for this worldwide. We are bringing back the wooden canopies and the original shopfronts.

“When you see the effect, it’s easy to understand why so many people came to marvel at the Lijnbaan in the past. The Lijnbaan always was the living room of Rotterdam and now we are giving it back to the city.”

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