What do the buildings around this square have in common? They all belonged to Shell. In 1914, the Batavian Petroleum Company, later Shell, founded a laboratory here. Oil from the Dutch East Indies was stored in large tanks and examined in the lab. Before World War II, almost 1,400 people worked in the Shell buildings. Thanks to technical innovations, lab tests took up less space and computers could take over much of the work.

Monuments of inheritance

In 2009, Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam moved further afield, to the Grasweg, and continued as Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam. Still, some parts of the site were preserved: this Groot-Lab, but also the Overhoeks Tower, now called the A’Dam Tower. Another bit of heritage is THT, now a restaurant, but formerly the Shell company canteen. And the formerly acquired Tolhuistuin, full of modernist villas, the oil company sold back to the city.