Both the shipyard and the museum are covered by a riveted steel roof construction. The wharf roof, on the west side, was originally built in 1887 on the current Museumplein (behind the Rijksmuseum under construction) for the World Exhibition of Food (The International Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition).

After the exhibition, the roof was sold to ‘t Kromhout and moved to be placed over the slipway at the Hoogte Kadijk. This created the first covered shipyard in the Netherlands.