Amsterdam Guide - Vernacular Architecture

The heraldic origins of the coat of arms of Amsterdam are unknown. The black banner in the centre could represent the water on which the city is located. The three St. Andrew’s crosses may stem from the Persijn crusader family from Waterland, which owned a considerable amount of land in and around Amsterdam. In 1489 the small merchant city obtained the right to add to its coat of arms the crown of the monarch, Maximilian I, archduke of Austria, German king and Holy Roman emperor. For the merchants of Amsterdam the crown was a weighty recommendation in other elements of the Kingdom, right down to the 17th century. By that time, Amsterdam had long been a powerful trading city in a by now Protestant country which, in 1648, was formally to leave the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation under the Peace of Münster. The crown adorning the emblem and the tower of the Westerkerk church is in fact the crown of emperor Rudolf II. The two lions were added as shield-bearers in the 16th century. In recognition of the conduct of the people of Amsterdam during the German occupation of 1940-1945, Queen Wilhelmina granted the city the right on 27 March 1947 to add to the coat of arms the motto ‘Valiant, Resolute, Compassionate’. - Source: Amsterdam.nl Emblem of the City of Amsterdam © Copyright: DutchAmsterdam.nl

A M S T E R D A M

AMSTERDAM canal houses - Facades

AMSTERDAM GUIDE on vernacular/traditional Architecture

AMSTERDAM HISTORY C. 1270 AMSTERDAM officialy founded on what is now know as the Amstel river. 1275 Amsterdam is granted toll free use of the Dutch waterways to enable for it to concentrate on trade. 1287 The Netherlands builds it's first water defenses which are a construction of huge sand dunes after completion enabled the creation of Zuiderzee and giving Amsterdam it's first direct access to the ocean. They have been busy keeping the water back ever since and continue to be the world leaders on water flooding prevention. 1300 Amsterdam is officially recognised as a city. 1317 Amsterdam officially becomes part of the Netherlands / Holland

1602 The Dutch East Indian Company is established which deals in buying and selling of slaves among other things but the Dutch do not use slaves themselves, just the buying and selling of them while keeping their hands clean. 1609 The planning and construction of Amsterdam’s three central ring canals begins, Herengracht (Man's canal) Keizersgracht (Kings canal) and Prinsengracht (Princes canal) all leading from the Amstel. 1648 Dutch gets it's independence from Spain 1672 War against France is declared and Netherlands is attacked by England who side with France.

1323 The city obtains sole exclusive rights for the importing of German beer.

1689 William of Orange succeeds to the English throne as William III following the Glorious Revolution and the defeat of King James.

1368 Amsterdam becomes a member of the Hanseatic League

1747 Willem IV of Orange assumes the Dutch throne.

1400s Amsterdam is ruled by Philip III, AKA Philip the Good or Philippe le Bon (July 31, 1396 – June 15, 1467)

1795 Holland is occupied by the French and renamed the Bavarian Republic; Napoleons, brother is made head of the republic

1519 Amsterdam comes under direct rule from Spain

1815 Willem I of Orange is crowned king; Amsterdam remains the capital but the Government moves to The Hague. Amsterdam's no longer the commercial capital it once was.

1543 The union of the Netherlands is created by Charles V, a descendant of Philip of Burgundy, with Brussels as the official capital 1568 80-year war begins – Holland revolts against the religious persecution of Spain, but Amsterdam remains loyal to Spain.

1839 Belgium gains independence and The Netherlands is established within its modernday boarders.

1578 Amsterdam, now totally isolated, from the rest of the Netherlands signs a peace treaty and peace rains once again.

Late 1800s sees the opening of the Suez Canal and with it a huge increase in world trade. The trade between the Netherlands and Indonesia intensifies.and around this time also sees the first diamonds arriving in Amsterdam.

1580 Spain defeats Portugal so the Dutch loose a major trading partner and are forced to go in search of new trading partners to trade with. Amsterdam gains importance as a major port.

10 May 1940 Holland is invaded and occupied by the Nazis and remains that way for the duration of the war. Many Jews are rounded up and sent to concentration camps , most never to return, Anne Frank's family is one of them.

1585 Antwerp noted for the wealth of the city and its citizens and for having the third largest port in Europe is invaded by the Spanish. Mean time Amsterdam starts to experiences it's first economic boom

5 May 1945 Germany is defeated and surrenders, ending World War II and leaving much of Europe in ruins. Rebuilding starts straight away.

1600s Amsterdam's "Golden Age" arrives which makes it a leading trade centre, trade and culture flourish.

1948 Queen Wilhelmina abdicates and her daughter Juliana is crowned Queen and succeeds to the Dutch throne

URBAN GROWTH IN AMSTERDAM 1949 The Dutch East Indies is granted it's independence and renames itself Indonesia 1950s/60s With the war over Europe as well as The Netherlands experiences massive economic growth. 1958 The Netherlands one of the founding members joins the EEC along with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and is now know as the EU (European Union) 1975 First coffee shops open in Amsterdam an spread to other cities in Netherlands soon over 700 shops open in Amsterdam alone. They are raided and closed by the police but reopen with days it not hours either in the same location or as near by as possible. Police fight a loosing battle. 1980 Beatrix is crowned Queen and assumes the throne of the Netherlands. 1985 With over 700 coffeeshops open in Amsterdam. Government decide to think about the legalisation of them. 1992 Nelson Mandela visits Amsterdam and receives a hero's welcome. 1990's House prices see large increases in their value. 1999 Amsterdam Escape opens for business 2002 January 1st sees the end of the Dutch Guilder and the introduction of the Euro, prices rocket but wages remain unchanged. 2006 Now less than 300 coffee shops left open in Amsterdam and all are closely watched by the police. April 2006, the official population of the city stands at 743,905; this counts only people who are registered as living in Amsterdam and does not count the thousands if not tens of thousands of illegal's, squatters, general drop outs and other non registered residents. the population of the greater Amsterdam area is around 1.5 million making it one of the most densely populated places on earth in relation to area size.

The Netherlands government exaggerates the importance and the idealism of spatial planning. The image of a fully planned landscape, which can be found even in academic publications, is false. There is certainly suburban sprawl in the Netherlands, visible on all the regional cycle routes, and usually encouraged by spatial planning. Within the Amsterdam urban region, there are typical suburbs (Nieuw Sloten, Weidevenne, Velserbroek), some 'heritage suburbs' (Weesp, Landsmeer), and older heritage urban centres (Amsterdam and Haarlem). The cheap 19th-century housing near the centre, regarded as slums in the 1960's and 1970's, has become a gentrified extension of the city centre. That leaves a large volume of interwar and early postwar housing, for instance in Amsterdam-West, which is now treated as 'ripe for clearance'. The present a-typical population structure of Amsterdam is not simply the result of immigration. Suburbanisation, a term which is still accurate here in its 1950's meaning, is a major determinant of urban social structure. The core population of the Netherlands no longer resides in Amsterdam, or in any major urban centre. The transfer of population has reached the scale where it is appropriate to say that a new city has been built alongside the old. Depending on how you define it, the south tangent region (see Cycle Route 1) may be bigger than Amsterdam. So it is no longer true that "all kinds of people live in Amsterdam". As in other western countries the typical families "fled to the suburbs", although in a much more structured way than in the United States. This core population of 'white' families in owner-occupied suburban housing, is also the core electorate. As in other countries, they exert a disproportionate influence on national policy. The people left in the city are either "non-family" or "non-white", or are members of the ethnic Dutch underclass.

There is some European-scale planning activity, although it is restricted by the refusal of nation states to surrender sovereign powers. On this issue the EU has no official competence, but it has produced spatial planning guidelines. At a European scale, demography is increasingly the most important factor in spatial structure. According to Eurostat, half of the EU population will be living in shrinking regions by 2025. Eastern Europe is experiencing a demographic collapse: there is a long-term shift in population distribution even without immigration. Relatively, the EU core is growing, despite nominal EU commitment to dispersed regional development. There are indications of a demographically-induced structural labour shortage in such areas. Some parts of the Amsterdam region are growing exceptionally fast by European standards. The Province of Flevoland, with the new cities Almere and Lelystad, is the fastest-growing region in the EU: 75% growth forecast 1995-2025. Amsterdam grew slowly to a regional centre by 1500. Despite its later reputation as a cosmopolitan centre of religious tolerance, it was at that time a centre of Catholic pilgrimage, with many monasteries. Its transformation into the world's largest trading city by 1650, can not be explained by its location. The river Amstel does not lead to anywhere important - it did not become a shipping route southwards until 1825, when a small canal joined it to Rotterdam. Perhaps being in a marshy region protected Amsterdam from invasion. Otherwise there were mainly disadvantages, until the 19th century when land reclamation and the North Sea Canal restructured the regional landscape. From the start, because of the marshy soil, travel in Amsterdam was based on water, for both people and goods, and hardly any streets of importance were built. The main thoroughfares were the river and the Voorburgwall and Achterburgwall on either side of the river, while the roads connected these together. Today’s Zeedijk, Warmoesstaat, Nes, Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk all started as quays along the Ij and the Amstel. It was only after the outlying land was drained that they became streets and the principal arteries of the medieval town. In the sixteenth century, the major merchants and entrepreneurs concentrated around Damrak. This was where they had their workshops and dwellings, behind which they had their warehouses and factories. Immediately accessible for ships. A similar situation existed between the burgwal canals, where merchants built their houses on the outer banks.

Using a revised definition, 51% of the population are of Netherlands origin in 2006. However, including illegal immigrants, the minorities are probably the majority already. Moroccans are projected to become the largest minority, with about 10%. However, by now, religion (Islam) rather than ethnicity is the social dividing line in the Netherlands. Immigration is unrelated to colonial status: Surinamese and Antillians are the only "post-colonial" minorities. Indonesia was a far larger and far more important colony than Suriname, but there was no mass migration from Indonesia, comparable to immigration to Britain from India and Pakistan. Labour migration from Turkey and Morocco is related to their status as low-income states on the periphery of Europe: they were never Dutch colonies. (Turkey was never a colony at all, but itself a core region of an empire). Contrary to the myth, Amsterdam does not have a 'long tradition of immigration'. In reality, there were only two substantial periods of immigration:. The first was during the reformation and the 'Golden Age', roughly 1550-1675. The second began in the late 1950's and was predominantly due to labour recruitment, the phase of the Gastarbeiter. After a long period with minimal immigration, the Netherlands before the Second World War was an ethnically homogeneous society. To recreate that society would require draconian expulsions of immigrants and ethnic minorities. There is a an official policy to alter the population composition of Amsterdam, replacing low-income households by higher-income households. Demolition and sale of older rental housing is the prime instrument to achieve this goal. Richard florida is sometimes quoted as the ideological inspiration for this policy. This 'social cleansing' by deliberate gentrification is likely to accelerate, when the economy recovers. In Amsterdam it also means ethnic cleansing, since the low income households are the minority households. In the present xenophobic climate, there is little opposition to that: compulsory dispersal of ethnic minorities is now under serious consideration. They would probably not be resettled in prosperous white suburbs, however, but in lower-income towns in the region, such as Zaandam and Velsen. Attempts during the expansion of 1585 to establish broad streets as

tensions of the city’s existing arterial roads and as a location for prestige housing failed largely because of poor access for shipping. With the expansion of 1610, the focus was on the new Heren-, Keizers- and Prinsen-grachts. The opposite bank of Herengracht develpoed into one of the sought-after residential locations, with the opposite bank of Keizersgracht as a good second. It was with the next expansion phase in 1665 that the development of double-lot canal houses with large gardens became the trend in the Golden Bend on Herengracht, with warehouses, coachhouses and stables on Kerkstraat. This development ensured that workshops were separated from the residences by gardens. By the end of the seventeenth century, only the storage attics and cellars were left of the once close ties between dwelling and workplace. To protect their residential neighborhoods, owners banded together and concluded private contracts. Until the end of the Republic, the Golden Bend on Herengracht served the residential needs of the great and powerful in Amsterdam, with Keizersgracht as a creditable second. Other small towns and agricultural villages were dispersed all around the region: there was no concentration of higher density at Amsterdam. In effect, the pastures started at the city gates: that did not change until about 1875. Since 1880 urban expansion, and conversion of farm land, has expanded the residential zone over the entire region. From the coastal dunes to the Gooi ridge, and south to Leiden and Utrecht, all settlements house commuters to Amsterdam. There is no direct relationship with distance: some villages just north of Amsterdam stayed rural until the 1950's, but the Gooi region was suburbanised by 1900. By the Second World War, the possibility that Amsterdam might join up with Haarlem and Utrecht was already recognised ('ribbon development'). Planning controls have in effect delayed that for 50 years, but by now the size of the city makes the delayed 'conurbation' almost inevitable < The Dortsmanhuis at 216 Amstel on a painting by Gerrit Berckheyde Plan for the extension of Amsterdam in 1663 >

AMSTERDAM – CULTURE AND LIFE STYLE A major colonial power, the Dutch mercantile fleet once challenged the English for World naval supremacy, and throughout its seventeenthcentury Golden age, the standard of living (for the majority at least) was second to none. There have been a few economic ups and downs since then, but today the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries in the world, small and urban, with the highest population density in Europe. Almost half the population declare no religious affiliation. The three largest churches are the Catholics, the Dutch reformed and its nineteenthcentury breakaway, the reformed; there is also a sizable Muslim minority. During the Reformation, the competing pillars of Dutch society (originally the Calvinists and the Catholics) learnt to live with – or ignore - each other, aided by the fact that trading wealth was lubricating the whole social structure. Dutch Society became tolerant and, in its enthusiasm to blunt conflict, progressive. It is commonly thought that the motive force behind liberal Dutch attitudes towards drug use and prostitution isn’t freewheeling permissiveness so much as apathy. The Dutch love to eat herring, eaten every which way, but usually raw, on a bread roll and garnished with onions. Sometimes you will see someone tilting there head back and lowering the whole fish into their mouth. The country’s image as a land of tolerance, wealthy but with an extraordinary social conscience and sense of civil duty, well organised, diplomatic and above all independent-minded Restaurants open in the evening rather earlier than in England; the Dutch typically eat between 17.30 and 19.00 The Dutch are fairly relaxed about clothes, especially in Amsterdam… (opera lovers at Amsterdam’s Stopera are often seen in T-shirts and jeans)..

English is spoken, with varying degrees of excellence, throughout the country. The ‘trail by water’ continues to shape Dutch life and the Dutch mentality. -…It has often been said that the peculiarities of Dutch society are the result of the Netherlands’ struggle for survival against the water, and against foreign domination and invasion. The right to live according to one’s own principles – which found its first official expression in the union of Utrecht. Doe maar gewoon – (‘act normal’) often heard as a commandment not to set oneself above others at any price. Acceptance of a wide variety of Lifestyles and beliefs that is truly exceptional. Continuing concern for community welfare…The Dutchman’s quick and often active defence of human rights Real social or political conflict is rare. Dutch society is in many ways deeply provincial and conservative…there are towns that have banned sexually explicit advertising. You will often see poster campaigns against ‘evils’ such as swearing, even in Amsterdam The Dutch population itself has always represented a variety of religious and political viewpoints. Respect for the other person’s opinions and convictions is the national virtue that gives strength to the fabric of society. Everyone is a member of some minority, and understands that to be treated with respect requires treating others the same way. The Dutch have an urban, cosmopolitan lifestyle, but in cities built on a human scale. In fact, the cities in the western part of the country form a continuous ring, 60 kilometres in diameter and is called the 'Randstad'. These cities include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Leiden and Delft. But each city has its own character, its own specialities and even its own accent in the Dutch language. The atmosphere in the rest of the country is urban as well, despite the small scale of the communities. The Netherlands is a small country that you can traverse by train in less than five hours.

The Genesis of Amsterdam 1200 – 1588 – the Early history The first settlers came to Holland in the 9th and 10th centuries. One such legend has it that two men and a dog found a dry and fertile piece of land to live on after surviving a shipwreck.

Wood construction Throughout the Middle Ages wood was the building material par excellence for the construction of houses. In brief, the medieval city largely consisted of wooden houses; stone being reserved for especially important buildings such as churches, monasteries and city gates. But the disastrous fires of 1421 and 1452 consumed most of these wooden houses, and had destroyed three-quarters of the city.

Timber frame (the Reconstruction of the first settlements by Jan Baart

Begijnhof 34 Amsterdams Historisch Museum has on display a wooden scale model of this house)

Archaeologist Jan Baart believes Amsterdam was founded by construction workers who came over from the Utrecht bishopric to build the dikes. According to Baart the network of dikes, of which the dam was an integral part, was built shortly after the major floods which took place around 1170. These floods left a thick clay deposit on top of which the earliest traces of habitation have been found. The 1521 by-law included the additional stipulation that existing wooden side walls had to be replaced by stone ones, and the 1525 edition goes even further: wooden facades and rear walls were banned as well. < Remains of the Aemstel Castle Found by excavations in 1994/1999

So, owing to its vulnerability, by far the greatest part of the medieval vernacular architecture was lost, and after 1550 brick gradually became the predominant construction material.

HISTORIC HOUSES

THE AMSTERDAM CANAL HOUSES

Characteristically the city centre of Amsterdam consists of separate houses ; each house with its own roof, front door and façade, and usually distinguish between ordinary single houses (3 bays, total width 25-30 feet, i.e. 7-8.5 metres, with the front door placed to one side but often in the middle in the case of 17th century houses) and double houses (5 bays, total width 50-60 feet, i.e. 14-17 metres, often built in the 17th century and extensively renovated in the 18th century).

The canal houses, usually built as residences for wealthy citizens, determine the Amsterdam cityscape. They are characterised by narrow, relatively tall facades, often crowned by richly ornamented gable tops. Typical of the Amsterdam facades, however, is the gable top. The reason behind the characteristic shape of the Amsterdam facades is the fact that the plots were narrow and deep with the narrow side facing the canal. Ornamental gable tops came to be used as a way to hide the saddle roofs from view, and a whole range of gable types developed:

Separate houses on the Leidsegracht

THE WOOD FAÇADE

Another common distinction applies to the function of the houses. Merchants' houses are characterised by top floors designed to serve as storage space for commodities, whereas mansions were built for residential purposes only.

STRAPWORK

However, even though the houses were conceived as separate entities, together they form a unified whole because of the harmony in size and proportions that can be observed throughout the city centre. This is one of the reasons why the Amsterdam city centre is such a unique and rare whole.

FUNNEL SHAPED

The characteristics which are at the basis of the Amsterdam cityscape are: • •

• • •

STEPPED

NECK RAISED NECK BELL CORNICE

narrow plots resulting in deep and elongated groundplans (consequently the roofs are at right angles to the facades, which led to the development of the gable top) unity of sizes and use of materials (small differences in height, i.e. four floors for houses on the main canals, standard width, i.e., 3 bays for single houses and 5 bays for double houses, red brick or sandstone facades with sandstone ornaments decorating top gable and entrance) facades leaning slightly forward and cantilevering stoops, side steps and cellar shops hoist beams

RAISED CORNICE

Top left: one of the few remaining examples of WOODEN FACADES : Beginhof 34 Top right : STRAPWORK example: St.Annenstraat 12 Bottom: STEPPED example: Bloemgracht 87-89

MORE GABLE TYPES :

Bell-shaped gable - Herenstraat 40 (1686)

ABOVE:Warehouses with plain funnel-shaped gables on the Brouwersgracht BELLOW: on LEFT: Neck gable at OZ Voorburggwal 135 on RIGHT: Raised neck gable at Rokin 145 Cornice with Open Balustrade at Single , 36

Raised Cornice at Herengracht 567 (1718)

THE STYLES As Victor Papenek says in The Green Imperative: “vernacular architecture are never self-conscious” or, these buildings “are too humble for history”; usually they are made by anonymous architects, who applied the traditional methods and shapes to the taste of their times in their work, so it is possible to detect the course of history by the ornamental application of certain styles in the Amsterdam canal houses according to the historical period when they have been built…

The diagram above shows the basic shapes used, some of them, like the neck gable are achieved in result of the application of a new style, in the case the application of the classic orders of architecture in the Renaissance style.

Basically, the main styles which can be classified by the following order:

Medieval/Gothic - 1544 on wards

Early Renaissance – 1570/1600

Dutch Classicism/ /Dutch renaissance – 1600 on wards

The Flat Style – 1655 on wards

The Revival Styles: - from 17th. to 19th Century : Neo-Gothic –1830/1860 (Example on right at NZ Voorburgwal 381)

Neo-Grec – 1815/1845

Ecleticicism – from 1850 to 20th. Century

Amsterdam is a treasurehouse of more historic buildings and sites than any other city in the world. This map gives an accurate idea of the dispersion of the historic buildings and sites over the Amsterdam city centre. According to the most recent data (January 1, 1999) there are 6,936 historic buildings in Amsterdam which fall under the jurisdiction of the national government.

H.P.BERLAG – ARCHITECT – 1856-1934 (Sergio Polano wrote his biography and complete work, in wich we can understand his intention to keep the tradition and define a national character in dutch design. Illustrations: Studies on furniture, showing examples of Egyptian Style, Gothic, ending with the Holandssche Style…

H.P. Berlag was the architect who planned part of the Amsterdam Zuid expansion, which model can also be seen at the NAI in Rotterdam, but he was also very interested in interior design producing the furniture , the cutlery, etc… But the most important point and the lessons I’ve learn from him is that still being possible and desirable to design following a tradition, keeping its national character, and yet still be innovative, applying the new materials and techonologies of our times…

“Architecture must me universal yet still maintain the stamp of the people who produce it and the place where it originated” Javier Senoisian in Bio-Architecture

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INTERNET RESOURCES

The Green Imperative – Victor Papanek Big Ideas , small buildings – Richardson Dietrich H.P.Berlag – Vitverig Waander b.v. Zwolle 1998

www.holland.com www.amsterdamarchitecture.nl www.iamsterdam.com www.bmz.amsterdam.nl www.arcam.nl www.visitamsterdam.nl www.nai.nl www.west8.nl www.mvrdv.nl www.onearchitecture.nl www.mecanoo.nl www.renevanzuuk.nl http://sharedutchdesign.nl/holland/architecture.htm www.cie.nl www.eea-architects.com http://www.wordtunnel.com/definition/Netherlands.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrit_Rietveld http://www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl/ http://www.jstor.org/view/00379808/ap030172/03a00120/0 www.nlarchitects.nl www.unstudio.nl