Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [45]
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel south |
Leidsestraat and the Spiegelkwartier
Northeast of Leidseplein is Leidsestraat, one of Amsterdam’s principal shopping streets, comprising a long, slender gauntlet of fast food, fashion and shoe shops of little distinction. That said, the department store Metz & Co, at the junction with Keizersgracht, occupies a good-looking stone building of 1891, its facade adorned by caryatids and topped by a distinctive corner dome. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest commercial building in the city – one reason why the owners were able to entice Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964), the leading architectural light of the artistic movement De Stijl, to add a rooftop glass and metal showroom in 1933. The showroom has survived and is now a café offering a fine view over the city centre; perhaps surprisingly, Rietveld designed just one other building in Amsterdam – the Van Gogh Museum.
One block east of Metz & Co is Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, an appealing mix of shops and boutiques, which extends south into Spiegelgracht to form the Spiegelkwartier. The district is home to the pricey end of Amsterdam’s antiques trade as well as De Appel, a lively centre for contemporary art with well-presented, temporary exhibitions, at Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10 (times vary with exhibitions, but normally Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; €4; www.deappel.nl).
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel south |
De Gouden Bocht
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat meets the elegant sweep of Herengracht near the west end of De Gouden Bocht where the canal is overlooked by a long sequence of double-fronted mansions, some of the most opulent dwellings in the city. Most of the houses here were extensively remodelled in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Characteristically, they have double stairways leading to the entrance, with small doors underneath (originally for servants’ use), and large doors above; the majority are topped off with the ornamental cornices that were fashionable at the time. Classical references are common, both in form – pediments, columns and pilasters – and decoration, from scrolls and vases through to geometric patterns inspired by ancient Greece.
One of the first buildings to look out for on the north side of the canal – just across from (and to the west of) Nieuwe Spiegelstraat – is Herengracht 475, an extravagant stone mansion decorated with allegorical figures and surmounted by a slender balustrade. Typically, the original building was a much more modest affair, dating from the 1660s, but eighty years later the new owner took matters in hand to create the ornate facade of today. Just along the canal to the east, Herengracht 493 is similarly grand, though here the building is polished off with an extravagantly carved pediment. A couple of doors down, Herengracht 497 is, by comparison, rather restrained, but the interior has been turned into the idiosyncratic Kattenkabinet (Cat Cabinet; Tues–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat & Sun 12–5pm; €5; www.kattenkabinet.nl), a substantial collection of art and artefacts relating to cats. They were installed by a Dutch financier, whose cherished moggy, John Pierpont Morgan (named after the American financier), died in 1984; feline fanatics will be delighted by the exhibits.
A short distance away, Herengracht 507 is an especially handsome house, though not too grand, its Neoclassical pilasters, pediment, mini-balcony and double-stairway nicely balanced by the slender windows. This was once the home of Jacob Boreel (1630–97), one-time mayor, whose attempt to impose a burial tax started a riot during which the mob ransacked his house.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel south |
The Stadsarchief – De Bazel
Opposite Herengracht 507, stretching down Vijzelstraat as far as Keizersgracht, is one of Amsterdam’s weirdest and most monumentally