This post was taken from the March 2025 City Window:
In this new column, De Stadsruit would like to focus on the residents on the historic ships in Erfgoedhavens in the center of Rotterdam. The Rotterdam Heritage Foundation manages over 23 hectares of Rotterdam’s inner harbor, from the Buizengat to the Maritime District, Leuvenhaven and part of historic Delfshaven.
In these ports you will find the largest collection of (inhabited) sailing heritage in the Netherlands. These historic harbors offer berths for historic (sailing) vessels of 50 years or older, with a historic hull that is still in its original state or historically restored, as happens at the Koningspoort.
Wouldn’t it be your dream to live on a houseboat in the heart of the city center among antique ships? It is possible if you have managed to secure a ship at least 50 years old and, not least, a place in one of Rotterdam’s historic inner harbor.
That dream came true for Marius Huijstee more than three years ago. He is now the proud owner of the historic ship “De Zuiderzee,” with a berth behind the Boompjes.
He was actually looking for a ship for his daughter and her boyfriend. They wanted to move to Rotterdam from Amsterdam. First they saw this ship in the Leuvenhaven but it did not yet have a berth. His daughter and her boyfriend then bought another ship, but this ship did not let go of Marius.
He thought, “At my age (69), let me challenge myself one more time. He sold his house in Heemstede and bought this ship after all. The restoration plans, which he calls ‘an intellectual challenge,’ he submitted to the Heritage Foundation, whereupon he was assigned a berth after all.
The ship is not quite finished yet, but that doesn’t bother Marius. He has lived there for over two years now and slowly he is seeing the ship transform into the dream he envisions.
“A ship with two floors, a living area, a dining area, three bedrooms with three bathrooms, a study and outdoor terrace.
And then I can also take the house up everywhere”. In the future, Marius would like to take the ship to Terschelling. What charms him most so far is the connection with nature. “Even though you lie here between buildings with little greenery, I experience nature twice a day with ebb and flow, that really changes your perspective.”
He outsourced the rebuilding to professionals, because “ship carpentry” is a specialized trade after all. In the original ship, there was no headroom. By using the bulwark on the upper deck of the ship, he was able to raise the ceiling and there is now enough headroom and space in the ship.
“That was a pretty major renovation.” Another challenge was to make the ship energy neutral.
With an insulation wall thickness of 27 centimeters, solar panels on the roof, a water-to-water heat pump and a high-efficiency wood-burning stove, he hopes to achieve a “zero on the meter ship.
When Marius is not busy rebuilding the ship, he is in Africa, where he is sent by PUM, Program Broadcast Managers, to advise on setting up technical projects. But Rotterdam is in his heart. The city where his daughter moved to and is two hundred meters away with her ship.
But especially the combination of “living in a village on the water in the middle of the center of Rotterdam, surely that is ultimate happiness”!
