Tour & Taxis: Inside Brussels’ Former Customs and Freight Complex

ORIGINS

A Port with Room to Grow

Beyond the Old Quays

Industrial and commercial traffic grew in the second half of the nineteenth century. Brussels needed a port that could handle larger vessels and connect with a railway network already under pressure. The old basins around Sainte-Catherine had brought boats into the city centre. The new installations moved the work towards the canal farther north.

Engineer Jules Zone proposed building on the low ground of Tour & Taxis. The site had room for large warehouses and the tracks needed to reach them. Work on the maritime basin was formally launched in 1900 in the presence of Leopold II.

Two Teams, Two Zones

Constant Bosmans and Henri Vandeveld designed the buildings in the railway area, working with engineers including Zone. On the customs side, Zone worked with architect Ernest Van Humbeek. The two groups of buildings went up in the first decade of the twentieth century. They were designed together around freight, but each had its own administration and rules of access.

HANDLING THE FREIGHT

From the Quay to Customs

The Railway Side

Tracks connected the freight station with the quays of the Vergote Basin. Goods that arrived by water could move into the railway network, and the broad floors of Gare Maritime made room to shift loads between trains and road vehicles. The size of the hall came from the space needed for both transport and handling.

The state railways ran this part of the site. The work continued beyond the great roof, with tracks, sidings and service buildings for keeping the railway in operation.

Parcels by the Wagonload

Workers also sorted smaller consignments that did not fill a wagon of their own. The parcels could include manufactured goods, fruit, fish or live animals. Clerks recorded the shipments while teams on the platforms shifted loads between trolleys and wagons. The work extended beyond the bulk goods that usually come to mind when you picture a freight train.

The Customs Side

A fence separated the customs warehouses from the railway area. The Royal Depot held goods for longer periods while they awaited customs clearance. Entrepôt A, now known as the Sheds, handled shorter stays, and the zone had its own building for hazardous goods. This allowed goods with different storage needs to remain under the same controls.

The public could go to the Hôtel des Douanes once through the gate. That was where clearance took place. Paperwork and payment determined when a consignment could move on, even after the work of unloading and storing it had been done.

ACROSS CENTURIES

From Freight to Foot Traffic

An Old System Loses Ground

From the late 1950s, the growth of road transport gradually weakened the role of the railway complex. Changing customs arrangements within Europe also reduced the need for a site organised around checking and holding goods. As its original uses fell away, the scale of the buildings made finding new functions a substantial undertaking.

The warehouses found new uses of their own. The Royal Depot now combines shops with offices, while the long spaces of the Sheds accommodate fairs and exhibitions. The two buildings still serve different purposes, as they did when one held goods for longer than the other.

Building Under the Roof

The conversion of Gare Maritime, completed in 2020, placed twelve timber pavilions beneath the historic roofs. Neutelings Riedijk Architects fitted the new structures into the side halls and kept the middle open. The pavilions house offices and shops, with planted pedestrian routes between them.

This arrangement lets you read the former station from inside. The new floors and stairs sit at a smaller scale than the steel roof above them. The historic spans still set the dimensions of the hall.

INTERESTING FACTS

Four Details of the Depot

A Name from the Post

The site takes its name from the Tour and Taxis family, associated with the postal network of the Habsburgs. Members of the family organised routes that carried correspondence across Europe. Their connection to the land preceded the freight buildings by centuries. The name stayed with the district as its work changed from the world of dispatch riders to that of rail wagons.

A Store with Two Keys

A storage compartment in the Royal Depot took two keys to open, one held by the owner and the other by a customs officer. Goods could remain in storage without either party being able to open the compartment alone. It is a small detail that explains what bonded storage meant in the day-to-day operation of the warehouse.

Concrete Behind the Brick

The Royal Depot’s brick and stone exterior conceals a reinforced concrete structure built using the Hennebique system. It was an early Belgian example of the method. Inside, goods lifts and metal walkways helped distribute loads across the building. The decorated exterior faced the city, while the structure and circulation were designed around the weight and movement of cargo.

Light Through the Sheds

The neighbouring warehouse known as Entrepôt A has a series of sawtooth roofs. Their steep glazed sides admitted light into a deep building where windows in the outer walls could only reach so far. The roof gave the Sheds their present name. It also helps distinguish their long, low storage halls from the taller Royal Depot alongside.

WHAT TO SEE & DO

Four Stops Through the Complex

Start at the Customs Office

Begin at the corner of Rue Picard and Avenue du Port. The Hôtel des Douanes stands near the original entrances to the customs area. Look for the brick gate pavilions and surviving sections of iron fencing. They show where movement into the site could be controlled.

Take in the building from the street. Its offices and counters served a different purpose from the large halls beyond, and interior access depends on the building’s use.

Enter the Royal Depot

Continue along Avenue du Port to the Royal Depot at number 86C. Above the main entrance, look for Mercury, the Roman god of commerce. A globe crowns the clock tower. These details face the avenue, where the warehouse presented itself to the city.

Inside the public shopping area, look up from the central passage. The galleries and walkways make it easier to picture how workers reached storage areas on several levels.

Look Along the Sheds

From the Royal Depot, look towards the long warehouse between it and Gare Maritime. Follow its side from the accessible paths and look for the repeated roof profile. The building spreads out horizontally, in contrast to the stack of floors you have just seen.

The Sheds now host fairs and other events. You can read their relationship to the depot and station from outside. Check the event listing if you want to go inside.

Cross the Gare Maritime Hall

Head towards Gare Maritime on Rue Picard and walk through the main hall when it is open. Look across the broad central space, then up at the old steelwork. From the pedestrian routes beside the timber pavilions you can see how the new structures fit within the older bays.

Pause near one end and look back along the hall. That long view makes the scale of the former freight station easier to grasp.

WHY VISIT?

How a Port Worked

Tour & Taxis suits travellers who want to see how industry shaped Brussels. The buildings still stand close enough together to explain the work that linked them. A walk of a few minutes takes you from the place where a shipment was cleared to the warehouse where it could wait and the station that carried it onwards.

For a longer outing, follow the canal towards the city centre and continue to Sainte-Catherine. The gap between its old quays shows how far boats once came into Brussels. The Brussels history and travel guide helps place the two areas in the wider city.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Planning Your Visit

Where to Start

Use Avenue du Port 86C, also signed as Havenlaan, for the main site address. The customs office is at the Rue Picard corner. Gare Maritime has a Rue Picard address, useful if you prefer to start there and follow the route in reverse.

Getting There

Brussels-North is the nearest mainline station. From that side of the canal, the Suzan Daniel Bridge is a useful crossing on foot. Bus 88 serves the Tour & Taxis stop. Check STIB-MIVB’s route information for connections on your date. The site’s shuttle has separate eligibility rules.

Time and Access

Allow 60 to 90 minutes for the four stops at an easy pace. This is an editorial estimate and excludes time at an exhibition or meal. The walk uses public routes and the visitor areas of the depot and station. Individual shops, venues and events keep their own hours, and ticket requirements depend on the event.

Checking What Is Open

Use the official visit page for travel information and check the site’s programme if a particular event matters to you. The outdoor route gives a view of the customs office and the Sheds. For extra time outdoors, the public park follows part of the old railway corridor.