Room 2 - Lodewijk Kerdijk room
Lodewijk Kerdijk was the brother of Henry Kerdijk (room 1), the business partner of Lodewijk Pincoffs (room 4) after whom the hotel is named.
Adventurer
Lodewijk Kerdijk was the adventurer, the man who guided the trade in West Africa for which the later Afrikaansche Handels Vereeninging (African Trade Association, AHV) was responsible. And that was not a kinnesinne at the time. Few people knew anything about that continent, with its wealth of resources and materials.
Banana
The company Kerdijk & Pincoffs traded in dyes such as indigo and madder. In 1857 they switched to import / export with Africa by taking over a firm. Lodewijk Kerdijk was the performer in Banana for more than 4 years.
He founded a new factory there and lived and worked mainly on the estuary of the Congo. Items such as cotton, cooking utensils, knives, guns, powder and liquor were exchanged for African ivory, palm oil and rubber. They eventually managed dozens of factories on the banks of the river.
Cheated
When things went badly with the AHV, Pincoffs in particular cheated millions to keep the AHV afloat. This was mainly at the expense of the Rotterdamsche Handelsvereeniging, where a considerable amount of Rotterdam companies, families and individuals had invested a lot of money.
The RHV was responsible for digging the ports around the customs building where you are now staying overnight. That port project was the start of the world port that Rotterdam would become 80 years later (largest port in the world).
Malaria
When the fraud came to light, in 1879, Lodewijk Kerdijk had already died for 18 years. He had probably succumbed to malaria or black water fever.
His brother Henry Kerdijk and Lodewijk Pincoffs were found guilty of fraud. "My brother's death was the accident of the whole thing," Henry Kerdijk said in court. "If he had lived," Pincoffs could never have played with the case like that."
Tip for winter months
In the summer, the sleeping place in the mezzanine room is nice and cool. The rising warm air is cooled by the climate control that blows out cool air on the sleeping floor.
In the winter, warm air is blown into the room here. This means that the sleeping floor will always be warmer than the living floor (warm air rises).
Our tip is therefore not to set the climate control much higher than 18-19 degrees. When you set the silent fan to position 1, the warm air will be well distributed throughout the room.
Good to know:
We wish you a pleasant stay!
Sources: The books 'Vlucht na Victorie' and 'Ik verlang geen dank’ by author Bram Oosterwijk about the life of Lodewijk Pincoffs, one of the leading characters in the 19th century of Rotterdam.
Entrepreneurs in Rotterdam, by De Hef Publishers