Tour & Taxis

Origins: Thurn und Taxis family area of Brussels Over the long history of the swampy lands that originally constituted the site, certain parcels belonged to the Thurn und Taxis (or Tassis), a German noble family famed for their multinational post and package business activities throughout Europe. Philip the Fair of Burgundy promoted Frans Von Tassis to postmaster in 1504; a position Tassis also held for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, beginning in 1489. Francisco moved the family to Brussels by 1516, and from there they organised the first international postal service. The imperial postal service linked the wealthy Low Countries to the Spanish court, and served the Holy Roman Empire and the rest of Europe. The horse-based postal service would be based in Brussels for nearly two centuries before moving to Frankfurt, Germany, in 1704. The fields in were used as pasture for the family's horses. The family gave their name to a small road that crossed through the area. This was rendered into French as Tour et Taxis, and would give its name to the area after its transition into a busy port. Industrialisation Along with much of the rest of Europe, Belgium experienced intense economic and industrial growth during the "long nineteenth century". The Willebroek Canal, which had originally been constructed in the 1550s and 1560s, took on increased importance in Belgium's global trade over the course of the 1800s, as it connects Brussels to the Scheldt River and ultimately the North Sea. In 1895, the Tour & Taxis site was selected by the Belgian state and the City of Brussels as the location for a new commercial station along the Brussels Canal. Construction of the Tour & Taxis industrial complex, spread over of land, officially began on 22 July 1900, with King Leopold II present for the inaugural festivities. Tour & Taxis was one of the first multi-modal freight transport platforms in the world. Frédéric Bruneel served as the main engineer for the project, while , Constant Bosmans and Henri Vandeveld worked as architects. Central to the site's functionality was the Maritime Station (, ), a freight station constructed by Bruneel beginning in 1902 and open from 1907. The expansive steel and glass structure was designed to efficiently receive goods by land, water and rail. Customs and excise duties were then collected on-site via the Customs House (, ), and goods were stored in bonded warehouses—the Public Depot (, ) and the Royal Depot (, )—before their redistribution. The Maritime Station was controlled by the Belgian State Railways (and, from 1926, the National Railway Company of Belgium), while the bonded warehouses were managed by the (and later, the Port of Brussels). Their appearance was influenced by both the Flemish Renaissance and the Art Nouveau style characteristic of early 20th-century Brussels. By the 1990s, the Port of Brussels and the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) each put their shares of the Tour & Taxis property up for sale. ==Redevelopment==

What Tour & Taxis would become in its next iteration remained unclear for several years. Plans to develop a 12,000-person concert hall on the premises were met with opposition by organisations like La Fonderie, The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, World Monuments Watch and Europa Nostra. Project T&T, a joint venture among three real estate development companies—Extensa (Ackermans & van Haaren), RB Management, and IRET development—purchased the site in 2001. Extensa bought out the other partners in 2014. Each of the historical buildings has been renovated or is in the process of being renovated as part of a mixed-use development with office space, residences, a public park, public services, shopping and restaurants, while preserving the architectural heritage of the site. Heritage buildings The Royal Depot was the first to be redeveloped. The original train track running through the bonded warehouse was replaced with an inner walkway lined by shops, restaurants such as Le Pain Quotidien, bars, a spa, and a childcare centre. The former storerooms on the upper floors were converted to office space and are occupied by law offices, creative and communications agencies, insurance companies, the public sector, and the like. The former Hôtel de la Poste administrative building is now used for meetings and events such as the International Interior Design Exhibition Brussels. The former Hôtel des Douanes customs building is utilised as temporary office space, and is currently occupied by the Belgian branch of French public relations firm Publicis Groupe. Extensa is currently redeveloping the Maritime Station, and announced plans to reopen the freight station in 2020 as a year-round "covered neighbourhood" with workspaces, a food hall, gardens and events space. The renovated station will use geothermal energy along with repurposed paving stones and wood from the original building. It will use electrochromic technology for its intelligent glass window glazing, which uses electric pulses to adjust the opacity of each window, with the option of creating either a dimmed or one-way mirror effect. Standalone workspaces made from wooden modules are anticipated to accommodate 2,000 people within the station. New developments Two new office buildings have been developed at Tour & Taxis. When it opened in 2015, the building was the largest passive office building in Belgium. The building was rated and certified as "excellent" by BREEAM in recognition of its sustainability. Neutelings Riedijk Architects designed the building using recycled materials, geothermic heating, rainwater recycling, and solar powered electricity. The Herman Teirlinck building won an EU Mies Award in 2019. The rail lines that once brought trains and their goods to the Maritime Station remained on the Tour & Taxis site decades after the closure of the freight station. Beginning in 2013, they were removed and replaced with a park that will total when complete. According to former Brussels Minister of the Environment and Energy, Évelyne Huytebroek, it is the largest park to be developed in Brussels since the time of King Leopold II. The site's current residential development project, known as Park Lane, is to be located near the Maritime Station and the park, and will feature an estimated 900 homes. The City of Brussels began developing a pedestrian and cyclist bridge on the Brussels Canal connecting Brussels-North railway station and Tour & Taxis in autumn 2019. The bridge is to be named after Suzan Daniel, a pioneer in the Brussels LGBTIQ+ movement in the 20th century. Social engagement and urban industry , as seen from Tour & Taxis In 2018, Tour & Taxis invited the public to name new private and public streets on the redeveloped site. According to The Guardian, "Belgian citizens were given the chance to name 28 streets, alleys, squares and walkways that make up the former industrial zone of Tour & Taxis. The final names were chosen by a jury comprising city officials, local heritage experts and property developer Extensa." ''Ceci n'est pas une rue'' ("This is not a street") was one choice, a reference to the surrealist artist René Magritte's painting The Treachery of Images. The late filmmaker Chantal Akerman, known for the cult classic Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, and Belgium's first female doctor, Isala Van Diest, each had a street named in their honour. PermaFungi, a circular economy project that sells oyster mushrooms at local businesses in Brussels, grows its mushrooms in the basement of the Royal Depot from used coffee grounds collected from Le Pain Quotidien. The non-profit organisation Parckfarm T&T operates on the grounds of Tour & Taxis Park. The volunteer-run "edible park" focuses on environmental and social projects, and offers classes on gardening, cooking, and nutrition. Early in 2020, the new production site and taproom of Brasserie de la Senne opened its doors at Tour & Taxis, on the /. The new brewery is directly across from the Royal Depot. It was located in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean before moving to its present site. The brewery is well known for many of its award-winning ales and stouts. ==See also==