PROPERTY WATCH
Cold War Fallout Shelter for 80 Offered on Amsterdam Canal at Bargain Price
The former pumping station, once left to the ivy, is back on the market at a fraction of its 2022 asking price, though its lawful use remains a puzzle.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — A Cold War fallout shelter on Postjeskade, in Amsterdam's Baarsjes neighbourhood, is for sale at about £245,000, according to a report in The Mirror. The asking price is given as €295,000. The structure was designed to shelter up to 80 people.
The report states that the building began life in 1940 as a sewage pumping station. It was converted into a fallout shelter in 1960, amid fears of nuclear war, and was later used to store Civil Defence supplies.
The bunker covers 55 square metres over three levels, two of them underground, with walls 30 centimetres thick. Visitors enter through a small brick building beside the canal and descend a concrete staircase to two white-painted shelter rooms of roughly 10 and 17 square metres. These have steel doors, an emergency exit, and a ventilation system fitted with sand filters. The old pumping cellar below, reached by ladder, is described as rough, with original pipe fittings visible. The estate agent, Property Noord, noted that "For other use, adjustments will be necessary."
The property comes with a parking space on a 76-square-metre plot, and the ground lease is paid until January 31, 2098. It last sold for €15,000 in 2011 and failed to find a buyer in 2022 at €1.1 million, when, according to the agent, it was overgrown with ivy. The ivy has since been cleared and the cellar furnished in 1960s style.
The chief obstacle, co-owner Hero Panman told RTL Nieuws, is zoning: municipal documents designate the site for "traffic" purposes. The agent says officials are open to discussion and that residential use remains possible. Some 20 interested parties have reportedly come forward. Bids were due by 5pm on November 6, and the sellers hope to complete by December 24.