CSM SUGAR CITY

MULTIPLE VISITS AUTUMN 2006 - 39 PHOTOS
ABANDONED, RECONSTRUCTION IS STARTED

Sugar? Yes, please. Sugar in the tea, in the coffee. Sugar in candy and cake. In every house keeping there is sugar to find.

In 1644 construction master Pieter Post [known from House ten Bosch and the Mauritshouse] started to build a representative house [named House Zwanenburg] for the catchment board of Rijnland. The building was served for the housing of the supervisor and estate agents. On 8 may 1862 House Zwanenburg was hired out to go settle a sugar factory. The building was not suitable for heavy machinery, to get a free hand for the insectary renovation, the house went for sale, in the hope to get permission for the renovation. In 1865 the house becomes property of sugar factory Zwanenburg. The first year there was a production of 900.000 kg sugar.

In 1882 the NV Sugar factory Holland was the follow up. The employer had great success and this was to also to thank on the flavourable sugar excise duty and agrarian crisis between 1878 and 1895. In 1897 the first major enlargement of the factory has completed. The competition amongst the other sugar refineries stays a problem. The change came with the arrival of the CSM [Centrale Suiker Maatschappij], which gave direction for the in total 13 private factories and refineries. The sugar factory has growed huge and when the years passed the factory was mechanized. Baskets where replaced by steam cranes, steam cranes by electrical cranes and beet boats on there turn where replaced by trucks. The sugar factory has been in production until 1991, but due to overcapacity she was necessary to close the doors.