Stadtwappen Neuss
Historisch

Haus am Pegel

Former customs office and warehouses

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The Erft channel (today: harbour basin 1), which was built between 1835 and 1838 and declared a ‘customs and free port’ in 1843.

The first building built in 1866 on the site of today’s Haus am Pegel [house at the water level] was the municipal slaughterhouse. The municipal cattle market has been taking place since 1895 on the premises in front of the slaughterhouse. In the course of further expansion of the harbour and the extension of the circular and harbour railway, the slaughterhouse was moved to Blücherstraße in 1905.

The old building at harbour basin 1, which was completed in 1908, was converted into a branch and dispatch office of the customs authorities.
In 1936, the customs office received a two-storey extension, which also provided additional storage space for the companies located in the port. After the Second World War, the warehouse was augmented, and in 1954 it was extended by a five-storey annex at the end of the hall, which until 1973 housed the Neuss Customs Office. Until 1999, the warehouses were still used by various companies, such as the ‘Neska – Niederrheinisches Schifffahrtskontor AG’ [Lower Rhine shipping office], which for a long time served as nicknames for the halls.

In 2005, Neusser Bauverein AG [Building Association of Neuss] began the reconstruction and partial new construction of the ‘Neska Halls’ to the office building ‘Haus am Pegel’. A three-part ensemble consisting of the elongated former warehouses, which are framed on one side by the new five-storey head building and on the other by an extension with cantilevered penthouse floor. This concept is designed to take account of the history of the building as well as the architecture specific to the harbour. This impression is complemented by two nighttime-illuminated harbour cranes and the restored house on the water level from the year 1936. Since 2006, the Haus am Pegel is also the seat of the company ‘Neusser Bauverein AG’.

Timeline

  • 1843 Customs and free port Neuss on the Erft channel
  • 1866 Opening of the municipal slaughterhouse
  • 1895 First cattle market at the harbour
  • 1905 Conversion of the slaughterhouse to the customs office
  • 1936 Addition of large warehouses
  • 1954 Addition of the main building for the customs office
  • 1973 Relocation of the customs office
  • 2005 Remodelling and new construction of the ‘Neska Hall’ warehouse to the office building ‘Haus am Pegel’

Sources and texts: Neuss municipal archives
Graphic design: Cornelius Uerlichs
Translation: A.C.T. Fachübersetzungen GmbH

This plaque was donated by: Neusser Bauverein AG