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(NL) Slingerapenverblijf ARTIS
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Ru Paré Community
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Datacenter AM4
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Tijdelijke Rechtbank Amsterdam
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Noorderparkbad
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IJhal
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Dr. Sarphatihuis
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IKC Zeeburgereiland
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Tetterode
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Club building ‘Industria’
‘Industria’, the club building of the Industrieele Groote Club (IGC), stands on the corner of Dam and Rokin. It was designed by the architect Foeke Kuipers (1871-1954) and is considered to be his main work. Kuipers was inspired by Berlage’s Amsterdam Exchange and indeed H.P. Berlage was one of his mentors. Kuipers not only designed the building itself, he was also responsible for Industria’s interior.
Ideal location
The Industrieele Club, founded in 1913, was a national centre for Dutch trade and industry. Immediately after the club’s foundation, the architect Kuipers was commissioned to design its club building. Its location was ideal: on the route to Amsterdam’s main railway station, Centraal Station, and close to the bustling Amsterdam Exchange. However, construction was soon interrupted by the discovery of the remains of medieval lock walls and by the outbreak of the First World War. ‘Industria’ finally opened in 1916.
Three business clubs in one
The IGC came into being in 1975 through the merger of three clubs: the political book club Doctrina et Amicitia (1788), the exclusive Sociëteit de Groote Club (1872) and the ‘nouveaus riches’ of the Industrieele Club (1913). The first two had merged in 1922 to form the Groote Club Doctrina et Amicitia (D et A). Their club building at number 1 Paleisstraat was appropriated by the Germans during the Second World War. Many are familiar with the story of the shooting at the club during liberation celebrations. An increase in the rent in the 1970s meant that the Groote Club (D et A) could no longer afford to stay in the building. In 1975, the Groote Club (De et A) relocated and merged with the Industrieele Club, giving rise to today’s Industrieele Groote Club.
Gemeenschapskunst
The influence of Berlage’s Exchange can be seen in the façade. It is executed in brick with alternating natural stone elements that have been painstakingly integrated in the façade surface. Each elevation has a different design. A tower with a copper crown divides the main elevation into two façade surfaces. ‘Industria’ was designed as so-called ‘gemeenschapskunst’ (community art), in which art and the applied arts support and accentuate the architecture. Kuipers made use of, among other things, palisander and ebony, wrought-iron lamps and railings, stained glass, ceramic tiles, marble and velvet. The three middle floors are used by the IGC. The rest of the building is rented out. There is talk of a new, luxury boutique hotel on the third floor of Industria, but this has yet to be confirmed.
(Text: Francine van den Berg/ ARCAM, photo: Jan de Wit)
The Hollandsche Manege
From Overtoom, the building looks ‘closed’, which is understandable when you realize that you are in fact looking at the rear side of a building that used to be ‘walled in’. For many years, buildings stood in front of this side of the riding school. The main entrance is not here but is located on the other side, at number 140 Vondelstraat.
The Hollandsche Manege was built in 1881-82 to replace the riding school of the same name in Leidsenpleinbuurt, which was demolished in 1881. An ideal location for the new building was found in the upmarket Vondelparkbuurt. This was where the exclusive clients of the riding school lived and the park could be used for outdoor riding.
Mounting area
The interior of the building is surprisingly festive and luxurious. The main space is the large rectangular riding ring. The combination of old-fashioned, palace-like decorated walls with a functional roof structure with iron trusses, which was modern for its time, is highly unusual. A beautifully preserved staircase gives access to a stylish foyer with a wide balcony that looks out over the riding ring. Underneath this balcony is the so-called ‘opstijgplaats’, or mounting area.
Riding palace
The architect A.L. van Gendt (1835-1901), who designed many buildings in Amsterdam, always chose an architectural style that he himself, or the client, thought appropriate for a project. He designed the Hollandsche Manege, a riding palace for the urban elite, in a festive classical style, modelling it on the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Van Gendt used the same style once again in his design for the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (1886), although here he concealed the roof structure behind a ceiling.
Listed building
In the second half of the last century, the riding school was acquired by investors and property developers, who wanted to demolish it. A campaign by local residents, users of the riding school and architecture lovers, however, succeeded in saving the building and it was restored in the 1980s. Now a national listed building, it is still in use as a riding school.
(Text: Dave Wendt / ARCAM, photo: Jan de Wit)
Raadhuis van Nieuwer-Amstel
The neo-Renaissance building, which was completed in 1892, was contracted out for 92,600 guilders. Critics appealed to the city council to invest more in the Raadhuis, or town hall. The editors of the architecture magazine De Opmerker expressed their doubts regarding the adequacy of the budget: ‘Now it is not yet too late, we believe that the city council should consider not implementing their commendable plan by halves so as not to be faced later with an irreversible fait accompli, whereas with a relatively small increase in costs a town hall can be procured which will attest to future generations the artistic sense of today’s administrators of Nieuweramstel’. They preferred the original, rather lavish design (see second illustration) by the architect Roelof Kuipers, but the council opted for a more sober building for budgetary reasons. For example, the tops of the side elevations were replaced by roof windows and there is less sandstone and fewer sculptures than in the original design.
Lookalike
For all that, it is still a striking building and was admired to the extent that it acquired a lookalike. In 1913 a new town hall opened in Kerkrade, whose exterior architecture was almost entirely based on the building on Amsteldijk.
Archives
For almost a century, the building fulfilled an important function for Amsterdam. After having served briefly as a town hall, it was taken into use to house the Gemeentearchief, or municipal archives. Together with the neighbouring former diamond-cutting factory (the monumental Asschergebouw) and six other buildings (now demolished), it housed ‘Amsterdam’s memory’. In 2007, the archives were moved to the building ‘De Bazel’ on Vijzelstraat. Moving the forty kilometres of centuries-old, fragile archives and collections was a huge operation. The Gemeentearchief is now called ‘Stadsarchief’, or Amsterdam city archives.
New build plans
The building on Amsteldijk has lain vacant since 2007. A redevelopment scheme for the building and its grounds is currently underway. The scheme provides for a parking garage, (creative) businesses, housing, a hotel, a theatre and a school. The demolished buildings have freed up space for new build and two new urban squares. The aim is for a multifunctional use of the area, which will be characterized by high quality new build and the authentic aura of the former Raadhhuis and diamond-cutting factory. Once again the future will tell whether the plan attests to the ‘artistic sense of today’s administrators’.
(Max Smit /ARCAM)
School SO De Heldring
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Carlton Hotel
The building, which was originally called Grand Hotel Centraal, was designed by the architect G.J. Rutgers and has national listed status. On completion, Grand Hotel Centraal was the largest and most luxurious hotel in the Netherlands.
Vijzelstraat
Present-day Vijzelstraat is largely the result of a municipal decision of 1907 to widen the existing street. While other radial streets in the southern section of the ring of canals remained intact, Vijzelstraat was widened to 22 metres in response to the increasing amount of traffic. This road widening necessitated the demolition of all the buildings on the west side of Vijzelstraat.
Solid volume
Rutgers’ design is positioned as an elongated volume in the freed up space. Construction began in 1925 and the building was completed in 1929. An arcade in the base spans the pavement the entire length of Vijzelstraat. Above is a solid six-storey volume containing hotel bedrooms and function rooms. Columns of oriel windows create a vertical accent.
Rutgers’ original design extended from Singel to Herengracht. Although the realized building is shorter than this, Reguliersdwarsstraat had to be bridged. This bridging is accentuated by a wide, massive balcony, with a slightly set back wall with oriel windows.
Amsterdam School
The style of the Amsterdam School is plainly discernible. Characteristic features include the use of brick, the natural stone accents and the sculptures in the elevations. The most striking sculpture is situated high above the street, on the corner of Vijzelstraat and Singel.
G.J. Rutgers was an Amsterdam School architect. Other work by Rutgers in Amsterdam includes several housing schemes in Amsterdam Zuid, in Hacquartstraat and Minervalaan.