In the meantime of Jacob Kolff becoming a resident doctor in the obstetric department of Leiden's hospital, the head of his department agreed to him getting married only if he could find a living accomodation less than 3 minutes' walk from the hospital. The soon-to-be wed found themself a room in Hotel Rijnland, on the Beestenmarkt in Leiden. This is where (a year later) Willem Kolff was born.
The Willem Kolff 's birthplace in Leiden.
The red-brick building on the right was formerly the Hotel Rijnland (operated in the late 19th–early 20th century)— the birthplace of Willem Johan Kolff (born here on 14 February 1911, in one of the hotel rooms).
Kolff’s father was working as a physician at the time, and the family lived temporarily in the hotel, at the address Steenstraat 39, Leiden, Netherlands.
Later use
The hotel was eventually closed and was repurposed; the neighboring structure became the Lido cinema in the 1930s.
- Photos by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (August 2025) and page layout by Mirella Spinozzi (November 2025)
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Bibliography
- Herman Broers, Inventor for Life. The Story of W. J. Kolff, Father of Artificial Organs, B&Vmedia, 2007, p. 22