Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [44]
Just off Leidsegracht on Prinsengracht are nos. 681–693, where an exquisite set of seven neck gables – one for each of the provinces that originally broke away from the Habsburgs – comprises an especially harmonious ensemble that dates back to 1715.
The Grachtengordel |
Grachtengordel south
Grachtengordel south holds many of the city’s proudest and most touted mansions, clustered along De Gouden Bocht – the Golden Bend – the curve of Herengracht between Leidsestraat and the River Amstel. It’s on this stretch that the merchant elite abandoned the material modesty of their Calvinist forebears, indulging themselves with lavish mansions, whose fancy facades more than hinted at the wealth within. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this elite also forsook brick for stone and the restrained details of traditional Dutch architecture for pompous Neoclassicism, their defeat of the Spanish Habsburgs, allied with their commercial success, prompting them to compare themselves to the Greeks and Romans. In the event, it was all an illusion – the bubble burst when Napoleon’s army arrived in 1793 – and, although the opulent interiors of two old mansions, the Museum Willet-Holthuysen and the Van Loon Museum, still give a flavour of those heady days, for the most part all that’s left – albeit a substantial legacy – are the wonderful facades. Few of these big, old houses still act as family homes and most have been recycled as offices and flats, but one has recently been converted into the delightful purse and bag museum, the Tassenmuseum Hendrikje.
Grachtengordel south contains some rather less savoury areas, too, where ill-considered twentieth-century development has blemished the city, especially in the seediness of the Rembrandtplein and the mediocrity of both Vijzelstraat and Leidseplein.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel south |
Leidseplein
Lying on the edge of the Grachtengordel, Leidseplein is the bustling hub of Amsterdam’s nightlife, a somewhat cluttered and disorderly open space that heaves with revellers each and every weekend. The square once marked the end of the road in from Leiden and, as horse-drawn traffic was banned from the centre at the time, it was here that the Dutch left their horses and carts – a sort of equine car park. Today, it’s quite the opposite; relentless traffic made up of trams, bikes, cars and pedestrians gives the place a frenetic feel, and the surrounding side streets are jammed with bars, restaurants and clubs in a bright jumble of jutting signs and neon lights. It’s not surprising, therefore, that on a good night Leidseplein can be Amsterdam at its carefree, exuberant best.
Leidseplein
Leidseplein also contains two buildings of some architectural merit. The first is the grandiose Stadsschouwburg, a neo-Renaissance edifice dating back to 1894 that was so widely criticized for its clumsy vulgarity that the city council of the day temporarily withheld the money for decorating the exterior. Home to the National Ballet and Opera until the Muziektheater (see "Waterlooplein") was completed on Waterlooplein in 1986, it is now used for theatre, dance and music performances (see "Classical music festivals"). However, its most popular function is as the place where the Ajax football team gathers on the balcony to wave to the crowds whenever they win anything – as they often do.
Across the street, just off the square on Leidsekade, is one of the city’s oddest buildings, the American Hotel, whose monumental and slightly disconcerting rendering of Art Nouveau comes complete with angular turrets, chunky dormer windows and fancy brickwork. Completed in 1902, the present structure takes its name from its demolished predecessor, which was – as the stylistic peccadillo of its architect, one W. Steinigeweg – adorned with statues and murals of North American scenes. Inside the present hotel