Building with bookcases: an archive depot in iron (Antwerp, 1851)

In 1851 engineer Théodore Lebens, working at the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées in the Province of Antwerp in Belgium, designed an archive depot with iron stack to house the provincial archives. This impressive iron structure which integrates modular iron bookcases within an iron frame was highly innovative at the time. From a structural point of view, this archive depot can be seen as the predecessor of fireproof stacks such as the Congressional Library of the United States Capitol, conceived in 1852 by architect T.U. Walter or the iron stack of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris built by Henri Labrouste in 1859-68. Yet, no reference has ever been made in historical literature to the Antwerp provincial archive depot; neither is it recognized in Belgium as a pioneer in the development of Belgian iron architecture.
By means of the study of the correspondence of the ingénieurs en chef of the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées in Antwerp, the original drawings and onsite analysis of the still existing building, the design, building process and its construction are analyzed.