Hulling Works

The former Hulling Works in Wormer are worth a visit for all who is interessed in industrial development at the beginning of the twentiest century. From the middle of the 19th century most hullingworks were erected. Before that time rice was imported but it was neccesairy to be polished because people preferred white rice at that time.

Since ages hullingworks were widely spread in the region of Zaandam, making use of windmills. The availability of good waterways was essential for this development.
Already in the 16th and 17th century Wormer was popular as a place for trading business. Along the banks of the Zaan there were a large amount of windmilles that were used to saw wood, hulling granes, pressing oil of for paper fabrication. The commodities and endprodukts were stacked in wooden warehouses that were situated near the windmills. The warehouses named Schepel, Maas and Waal belong to the last generations of warehouses completely build of wood. In the fourth quarter of the 19th century windenergy was gradually replaced by steampower, that way the production of goods was not depending on weatherconditions anymore. At the beginning of the 20st century nearly all industial mills were replaced by steam-driven factories.

The industrial buildings hold a great architectural and social-historic value. It’s a industrial complex that is in a complete state, which has become very rare in this scale of proportions. One can see clearly that the complex has been expanding over and over in a relative short period of time. The storage of piece-goods as well as mass-goods are located next to eachother, resulting in a beautiful contrast between the buildings.

Hulling Works
Veerdijk 35-43
1531 MS Wormer
Netherlands
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