A Gemeenlandshuis, or Waterschapshuis is a building that is or was formerly used as the headquarters of one of the Waterboards of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has 27 Waterboards or Waterschappen.

History

Early flood control in the Netherlands

Flood control in the Netherlands

Flood control in the Netherlands is an important issue for the Netherlands as about two thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding while at the same time the country is among the most densely populated on earth. Natural sand dunes and man made dikes, dams and floodgates provide defense against...

 is often called the Teerschouw, which loosely translated means "consumption during observation". This technique was a periodic check of the local dike system by the Dike-reeve and his men. If they found a problem, they would simply go to the nearest house or fairly decent inn, and stay there for free until the problem was fixed. This was a fairly direct and simple form of water management

Water management

Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world. water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands...

. Fortunately these measures were rarely necessary, since the local people took water management very seriously. The Dike-reeve and his men (themselves local representatives of smaller water board agencies) mostly met to discuss major issues and water improvements, and though they met at each other's homes until the 16th century, as the country grew and the water management issues became more complex, halls were purchased to meet each other regularly.

The Water Boards became governing bodies much like a town hall became a meeting place for the city council. In most Dutch cities, especially those on a river or located at a seaside port, the Gemeenlandshuis was the same size as the Town Hall. Examples can be seen today in Leiden, home to the Gemeenlandshuis van Rijnland

Gemeenlandshuis van Rijnland

.The Gemeenlandshuis van Rijnland on the Breestraat in Leiden is the oldest Gemeenlandshuis of the Netherlands that kept its function until the current century. Currently, it is still in use by the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland, but only for meetings and special occasions...

, and Delft

Delft

Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....

, home to the Hoogheemraadschap Delfland.

Borders of jurisdiction

The Water Boards governed territories that spanned several municipalities. Because of the complications this extra dimension gave to local governance, city planning was done as much as possible in accordance with water management plans. To save time, the meetings were done as much as possible near to the areas in question. This meant that the Dike-Reeve and his men needed to travel a lot. Since the Water Boards received their own income from taxes, they had enough money to spend on meeting halls, and they built meeting halls for convenience in out-of-the-way places. For this reason many meeting halls were unusually large that were located in very small towns, such as the Gemeenlandshuis Zwanenburg in Halfweg, or the Waterschapshuis in Onderdendam. These were locations that were strategically suited for meetings when the waterworks were being inspected.