Allard Remco Hulshoff.
Jan Gratama and Gerrit Versteeg
Date Built
1925 - 1927
Location
Hoofddorppleinbuurt, Surinamebuurt,
Admiralenbuurt and Mercatorbuurt
Description
After World War One, the
City of Amsterdam instigated two major
expansions designed to address the shortage
of housing. The first was known as
Plan South and the second Plan West.
The Plan West Wikipedia page (somewhat
awkwardly translated) explains that, "The
construction of the houses took place in
the style of the Amsterdam School. The
neighborhood was built between 1925 and
1927, which was very fast. That was
partly due to a standing committee in
which the three makers of Plan West were
supplemented with representatives of
Building and Housing, the ministry of
Public Works and the management of the
construction company executive. This
committee had with Van der Schaar
prepared a development plan and the
silhouettes of street and square walls
determined. Architects who largely had
also participated in Plan Zuid, designed
the façade walls after a beauty
committee assessed the whole. The outer
walls were the only thing that these
architects were allowed designs. They
had so little room for maneuver because
their various housing types were
presented to which they were bound.
These floor plans of the houses, which
had already been designed by the
architectural firm Gulden and Moneymaker
met the building codes and construction
techniques. Only the facades were still
stuck in these drawings. Among
architects (this) was
jokingly (referred to as)
pinafores architecture."
One feature of the
development was long street walls, some as
long as 250 metres. From a design
perspective the monotony of long street
walls was compensated for by more elaborate
corners and ingenious facades.
