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Amsterdam School

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61 pointsbondarchuk19 comments

My grand-grand father was responsible for building 6,000 houses of which the Mercatorplein (one of the example article images) was central. If Dutch you should read more about how this Amsterdam neighbourhood was build here: https://www.heerevanderschaar.amsterdam/bouwondernemer/plan-... (the non-Dutch will appreciate the photos).

Berlage the architect is always mentioned as the creator of Mercatorplein (same in the article "his housing around the Mercatorplein"), which is always funny to me given architects don't build but are hired by building entrepreneurs like Van der Schaar who actually was responsible for it all, which in the history books get almost no credit.

TIL Sloten was named Sloten because it had no roads but sloten! (small canals)

It’s like calling NYC “Skyscrapers”. Love it.

> ATTENTION. The books are accessible only via the Tor Browser. Follow the guide HERE.

First time seeing this. Is this a piracy thing? Hiding from AI scrapers?

easier distribution

Not bit-torrent, TOR (The Onion Router). If you have to download a special web browser just for this one download, it isn't about easier distribution. TOR is a privacy enhancing browser and is usually associated with accessing the Dark Web without being traced. I have never seen it is as a requirement imposed by a website.

I can see why the functionalists pushed back against some of this. The detailing must have been expensive and difficult to maintain.

Back then materials were expensive and labour was cheap (relatively speaking).

I just watched a short doc about NYC architecture in the early 20th-century and it had the same conclusion - you'll see extraordinary stone work up high where no one sees it except the neighbours. The labour was cheap, and so we have these beautiful buildings from those periods, and today's buildings are just practical unless the owners are lovers of beauty. Chicago, where I recently did the architecture tour on the river (highly recommend) still builds some great things, but only downtown I think where it pays off by making a desirable office destination for companies with big pockets. Is that the case for other cities? London and Dubai the same, Shanghai?

Just a regular reminder on questions about Architecture: Do people living in the area like the architecture? Do people like to hang out? Do people want to copy the architecture?

My gut feeling on these buildings say propaply not. Just some other architectures, or commisions are mentioned which like / liked it.

Just to clarify: Buildings are public space. And in a democracy, it matters what the public think about the public space

Most of these buildings are highly coveted now. This design is quite sought after in the Netherland. It's too expensive to construct now, so their number isn't increasing.

Not just buildings but vintage furniture, glass paned doors, etc. This was definitely not limited to the outside of buildings, and people's interest is equally not limited to external features.

" It's too expensive to construct now" So if it is expensive and very popular at least luxury houses use this style?

They would if they had taste.

'Luxury' and and appreciation of architectonic style seem to have not that much overlap. New luxury construction largely follows the same rules as regular construction: bang for buck, with any extra money spent on specific features (such as pools, size, large sections of windows, and such). The funny thing is expensive luxury houses are actually quite cheap (almost nothing exceeds ten times the cost of an average house).

Bit of a cheat putting Zaanstraat and Hembrugstraat in without noting they're both part of "Het Schip" and basically opposite ends of the same development.

The museum tour is fantastic. Well worth it. Reminded me of a Bauhaus working class housing interior design on display in Berlin.

If you like this kind of thing, the Rietveld Schröderhuis in Utrecht is well worth a trip. It's de Stijl not Amsterdam school but also fascinating.

That left-wing politics is part of what makes Het Schip so cool: a "workers' palace", commissioned by a socialist housing association. They believed that working people deserved beautiful homes, with elaborate brickwork and thoughtful design -- not just somewhere cheap to sleep. I love taking visiting friends around Spaarndammerbuurt and into the museum.

https://www.hetschip.nl/en/visitors/locations-opening-hours/...

The museum is amazing, and the gift shop has treasures like this set of historical posters.

https://www.hetschip.nl/webshop/souvenirs/set-historische-po...

The top one, Wilhelmina Drupsteen's "De Vrouw 1813-1913", advertised an exhibition organized by the women's movement, including the campaign for voting rights. Dutch women wouldn't get the vote until 1919.

The front poster, Albert Hahn's "Stemt Rood!" ("Vote Red!"), shows a worker raising a pickaxe while pinning down an octopus representing capitalism and its evils. His boot is planted on a tentacle. The lettering names capitalism, anarchy, famine, the suffering of war, and food profiteering. Still painfully relevant issues today. Makes me picture the tentacles of Trump and his owners, Putin and Netanyahu, getting thoroughly stomped and pickaxed by progressives winning democratic elections, and how Iran resoundingly won Trump's war by causing regime change in the United States.

https://x.com/AmoneyResists/status/2118357108643234240

The gift shop doesn't carry the cardboard hats anymore, but I once got one modeled on Het Schip's phallic brick tower, like the Pope's mitre, only too tall to wear indoors.

https://wittebouw.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Amsterdam_He...

They're repairing the wrought-iron "tree of life" on top of the tower, which was accidentally struck during maintenance:

https://www.facebook.com/MuseumHetSchip/posts/pfbid0HQDNrwXU...

>In early 2026, the exterior woodwork of Het Schip (the homes and museum) was painted. While scaffolding components were being hoisted into the courtyard, the tower's finial was struck, leaving it tilted. It took a while, but at the end of October the finial was finally removed for repair. The top is temporarily covered with plastic.

>Het Schip was designed by architect Michel de Klerk. The book "Een kunstwerk van baksteen" ("A Work of Art in Brick", 2018) describes the tower: "The tower can be seen as a characteristic Amsterdam School form. It enhanced the building's sculptural qualities and plays an important role in its overall appearance." Housing Department director Arie Keppler was rather surprised by the tower's presence: "There had occasionally been passing remarks about the lack of a tower in this part of the city. Imagine the astonishment when he unrolled his plan!"

Then we go to Grand Hotel Amrath in the former Scheepvaarthuis: Amsterdam School extravagance built for shipping companies rather than workers. They've let us explore the lobby, and you can rent the lavish historic meeting rooms. Look at the stained glass and woodwork, and don't miss the paternoster lift.

https://www.amrathamsterdam.com/en/information/history/the-s...

Cafe Batavia 1920 makes a great stop for a drink and lunch in another Amsterdam School building, if it's not overrun with obnoxious British football fans.

https://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1920/batavia.html

And then Tuschinski, an extravagant mixture of Amsterdam School, Art Deco, and Jugendstil.

https://celluloidjunkie.com/2017/10/19/cinema-of-the-month-p...

There's also De Dageraad, the housing complex designed by Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer around P. L. Takstraat and Burgemeester Tellegenstraat. More beautiful homes for workers, commissioned by a socialist housing association.

https://items.amsterdamse-school.nl/details/objects/54

The best thing to do is to just ride a bike randomly around town all over the place, looking at the architecture and parks and canals. Here are a few of my recent rambling rides, including wandering around Spaarndammerbuurt and Het Schip, and flood filling every road in De Pijp:

https://ebike-safari.com/?lat=52.3905&lon=4.8737&zoom=16&rid...

There was a living and working exposition in Breslau, some flats were build using the experience: used to live in one of them and despite all but one pieces of furniture were gone it was the best flat i lived in: not the biggest by any mean but it's layout and dimensions were just right.

My memory is they did polished concrete for the kitchen workbench, which you'd pay a fortune for now!

I wonder what the Karl Marx Hof in Vienna is like inside?

Some of those look very pleased with themselves.

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