Michel de Klerk was
responsible for the design of three
revolutionary social housing blocks in the
vicinity of Spaarndammerplantsoen. The
most famous is Het Schip that has a page of
its own on this site. Before Het Schip
he built two other blocks located across
from each other with Spaarndammerplantsoen
in between. De Klerk's design
addressed his brief to build quality and
functional homes at affordable prices.
The Rijksmonumenten website explains that he
broke away radically from the custom of
providing facades with little more than a
few timid architectural accents. "He
drew on walls in brick and striking
colors with bold styling and detailing.
So he created an architectural
equivalent of the new society that the
social democratic movement had in mind.
The great attention to the exterior of
the houses was justified on
psychological grounds because living in
a beautiful environment would strengthen
the worker in his self-esteem."