Schoolbank Double
Street side, with two tall windows and a desk long enough to work at.
Groningen · built 1931
A school that kept its windows and lost its timetable
Marenhof is a brick school building in Groningen with sixty-four rooms in it. The corridors are still terrazzo and the double stairwell keeps its original handrail, and the bike shed that once held four hundred school bikes now holds sixty for hotel guests. The old canteen has become a restaurant, and upstairs in the assembly hall you'll find a small casino.
01
The building
Openbare school, 1931: hotel since the conversion
The architect gave this school tall windows because electric light was expensive and daylight cost nothing. It's why the rooms are bright at eight in the morning before anybody has touched a switch. We kept the window frames, the terrazzo floors, the brass handrail in the east stairwell and the tiled dado in the corridors, and we replaced the heating, the glazing units, the wiring and all sixty-four bathrooms.
The caretaker's flat is now reception, and the old gym hall holds a sauna and a small lap pool. The playground has become a planted, quiet courtyard that fills with tables in April.
The fabric, in numbers
- Built 1931, opened as a school in September of that year
- 64 rooms over four floors, 2 of them step-free
- Terrazzo corridors on every floor, original throughout
- Two stairwells, one lift, 60 bikes in the shed
02
Four kinds of room
Sixty-four in total, none of them identical
Binnenplaats Queen
Facing the courtyard, which means blackbirds outside the window.
Hoekkamer Corner
Windows on two walls and a bath, with the best light in the building.
Zolderlijn Long Room
Runs the full length of the roof, with a sloped ceiling, two beds and a sofa.
03
Eating in the old canteen
Four places to sit, one kitchen behind them
De Kantine still has its serving hatch and long windows, and the acoustics of a room built for three hundred children. It serves breakfast and dinner. Krijtlijn Coffee works from the old porter's counter by the front door, and with nine seats it doesn't take reservations.
Conciërge Bar sits behind reception and stays open until one. The courtyard terrace opens once the weather allows, which in Groningen means April, and a jumper.
Four rooms, one kitchen
- De KantineBreakfast 07:00–10:30 · dinner 18:00–22:00, Tue–Sat
- Krijtlijn Coffee07:00–17:00 daily · nine stools
- Conciërge Bar16:00–01:00 daily · small plates to midnight
- Binnenplaats TerraceApril to late September · weather allowing
04
The assembly hall, first floor
Marenhof Casino: inside the building, up the east stairwell
Marenhof Casino occupies the old assembly hall on the first floor of the hotel. From the lobby it's one flight up the east stairwell, or one stop in the lift, so you stay indoors the whole way, which counts for a lot in February.
The casino is a small room with a few tables, a bar at the back under the clock, and evening opening hours. The legal age in the Netherlands is 18, and photo ID is checked at the door on every visit, even your fourth in a week. Limits are set on the floor by the staff working it, so ask before you sit down. This is a land-based casino: the website itself offers no games or bets and takes no deposits or payments.
Hours upstairs
Wednesday to Sunday, 20:00–02:00. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
One flight up the east stairwell, or take the lift to the first floor and turn right.
05
The gym hall
Sauna, steam, a twelve-metre pool and the courtyard
Open to guests
- Pool and sauna, 06:30–22:00
- Steam room, 15:00–22:00
- Quiet hour, 20:00–21:00
Gymzaal Spa is in the former gymnasium at the back, where the wall bars used to be. It has a sauna, a steam room, a twelve-metre lap pool and a cold tap you'll dislike at first. Towels are at the door, and only the two treatment rooms need booking.
Outside, the courtyard is planted with hornbeam and birch, with benches on three sides. The bike shed is next door, and the bikes are free for guests, so it's the easiest way to see Groningen.
06
Where this is
Zandkuilstraat, nine minutes from the Grote Markt
The hotel is on Zandkuilstraat, north of the centre, in a street of brick terraces with a canal at one end. It takes nine minutes to walk to the Grote Markt. Groningen Hoofdstation is fifteen minutes on foot or six by bike, and the bus from the station stops two streets away.
- Address
- Zandkuilstraat 16, 9724 PB Groningen, The Netherlands
- Reception
- Staffed 24 hours. Check-in from 15:00, check-out by 11:00.
- Telephone
- +31 50 318 44 70