Five jubilees at P. van Reeuwijk
Between 1954 and 1962 the Rotterdamsch Parool printed five short notices marking a quarter-century or forty years of service at . They give a rare view of the firm's named employees, and this register stays with what they say.
The five
On 2 October 1954 the paper reported that the cashier P. J. Engelberts had served twenty-five years. The bookkeeper S. Poortvliet reached the same mark on 19 November 1958. Two chauffeurs had the longest records, forty years each . P. W. Baggerman's came on 3 June 1959, and his notice had its own headline, Bronzen ere-medaille voor P. W. Baggerman, a bronze medal of honour. G. Baas was reported to have completed his forty years on 26 February 1962.
Between those two chauffeur notices came L. Kret, the woningstoffeerder (the firm's own upholsterer and furnisher), who marked twenty-five years on 2 December 1961. The firm's president-director and a procuratiehouder honoured him on the day. A cashier, a bookkeeper, two drivers and an upholsterer make a small cross-section of a furnishing firm's working floor, caught only because each stayed a working lifetime .
How to read it
The papers gave initials and a surname and nothing more: P. J. Engelberts, S. Poortvliet, P. W. Baggerman, L. Kret, G. Baas . There is no first name, no birth date, no address . None of the five can be joined with confidence to a civil record . A scoped search of the online registers found no match for the cashier, and a stray passenger-list entry for an S. Poortvliet gives neither trade nor employer to tie it to the bookkeeper . Each of them is a name, a job and a date, with a deliberate blank where a person would be.
The dates need one more caution.
That year the firm opened temporary showrooms at Rochussenstraat 169: a September report concerns the new emergency store, and a December notice places its office at 169 . None of the notices puts any of the five at the corner, and their reported years with the firm do not prove they worked behind its windows .
The firm's own jubilee
These five notices have no photograph of their own. At the firm's fortieth-jubilee reception on 3 February 1955, reports described Mrs van Reeuwijk-van Walsum as directrice and credited her with forty years at the head of the business, and an association representative presented her with a gold medal.
The Algemeen Handelsblad had trailed the anniversary a week earlier. On 26 January 1955 it marked veertig jaar Van Reeuwijks Woninginrichting and dated the founding to 1 February 1915, in the Kipstraat. In the firm's own words the first premises were meer een meubelpakhuis, more a furniture warehouse than a shop, and the paper reported 1,500 model rooms in its modern Binnenweg building.
> Forty years of Van Reeuwijk's Home Furnishing > On 1 February it will be forty years since the firm of P. van Reeuwijk, now called N.V. Van > Reeuwijk's Woninginrichting, was founded in the Kipstraat at Rotterdam. Where it was then more of a > furniture warehouse from which customers were served, the firm now has, in its modern premises on the > Binnenweg, 1500 model rooms in which the customer can make his choice. […]
According to the Rotterdamsch Parool, hundreds of friends and business associates came to the reception on 3 February. The paper said the chairman of the Rotterdamse Middenstandsvereniging presented the association's gold medal to the directrice, and called her the first board member of an N.V. to receive it.
FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF VAN REEUWIJK: Hundreds of congratulations in hall full of floral arrangements Yesterday afternoon, the management of P. van Reeuwijks Woninginrichting was busy for hours shaking hands. In the Schotse kerk across the street, on the occasion of the firm's fortieth anniversary, hundreds of friends and business associates gave the banquet hall an exceptionally pleasant and festive atmosphere, which was certainly further enhanced by the presence of an impressive collection of floral arrangements. Mrs. Van Reeuwijk-Van Walsum was the center of all the warm attention. She was thoroughly put in the spotlight by several speakers. One of them was Mr. C. van der Linden, chairman of the Rotterdamse Middenstandsvereniging „Handel en Nijverheid”. He recalled that, despite its significant growth, the firm Van Reeuwijk had nevertheless always continued to be regarded as a middle-class business. That was also why Mr. Van der Linden was able to present the directress with the gold commemorative medal of „Handel en Nijverheid”. She was the first board member of an N.V. to receive such a distinction. Mr. A. Nieuwland conveyed congratulations on behalf of the company's entire staff, who were represented by a delegation. They did not come empty-handed; the jubilee gift was a large tile tableau depicting the two earlier premises and the present building on the Binnenweg. The chairman of the supervisory board, prof. mr. G. de Grooth, drew a comparison in a speech between the development of the firm Van Reeuwijk and the city of Rotterdam; both have suffered setbacks, but both have become increasingly important. Prof. De Grooth presented Mrs. Van Reeuwijk with a cigarette box. Speeches were further given by Messrs. J. A. de Bruyne and J. Muusse, both close associates. The latter presented a painting depicting the first premises on the Kipstraat. Among the very many other visitors were also business associates from across the borders.
The report says the whole staff, through a delegation, gave a large tegeltableau, a tile tableau showing the firm's two former premises beside its current Binnenweg building. A business relation added a painting of the first shop in the Kipstraat. Where either is now is unknown.
The notices record recognition for a cashier, a bookkeeper, chauffeurs and an upholsterer. In September 1975 another notice announced a reception at Binnenwegplein 26 for the firm's sixtieth year and for the fortieth service jubilee of its president-director, T. Terlouw.
> The supervisory board and management of NV Woninginrichting P. van Reeuwijk of Rotterdam will celebrate, on Wednesday 1 October from 4 to 6 o'clock with a reception in their building at Binnenwegplein 26 in Rotterdam, the 60-year existence of the firm and the 40-year jubilee of president-director T. Terlouw.
Mrs J. M. van Reeuwijk-van Walsum, the directrice credited with forty years at the firm's head, photographed in 1971 in its post-war Binnenwegplein showroom (Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Collectie Ary Groeneveld; photographer Hans Keijzer; CC0).