The Plane Tree of Poortershoes

This plane is older than the building it fronts. The Poortershoes at Oosterweg 13 went up in 1881 as a school for the children of Groningen's bargemen, but the city's own archive dates the tree in front of it to 1846, thirty five years earlier, which makes it a monument in its own right rather than a landscaping choice that came with the building. It has had the last laugh since. The school closed long ago and the building is now a neighbourhood community centre for Oosterpoort, while the plane keeps growing against it: the register notes the tree leans slightly from competing with the facade for light, and its roots have started pushing against the wall hard enough to crack the masonry. Nobody has cut it back for that. At roughly 180 years old it is healthy and in good structure by the city's own assessment, standing right on the public street rather than behind any gate, in front of a building that has already outlived one purpose and is well into its second.