Fire claims Meppel’s oldest residence

MEPPEL – The devastating fire, which destroyed Meppel’s four centuries-old Schultehuis, has not been deliberately set. Instead, experts suspect that the fire’s cause originated from a malfunctioning heating system. Faced with the loss of a characteristic building, the city’s historical society has called upon the national monument preservation officials to rebuild its oldest residence, which once served as the house of the local judiciary and notary public. The building’s ground level had been used as a toys shop in recent years. The Schultehuis was adorned with a typical Dutch crow-stepped gable.