Spaarndammerbuurt part 3: the expressive Amsterdam School of architecture

Characteristic of the Amsterdam School of architecture is the use of bricks as the main building material, combined with ornaments in either brick or carved stone. The often shapely buildings are crowned with steep roofs with a variable roofline coupled with extended gables, top gables, lifted roofs and turrets. The windows are highly variable in shape and are often arranged in series (either vertical or horizontal). At its most expressive the facades in brick have rounded shapes and symbolic elements. The Spaarndammerplantsoen complex shows the development of the most famous architect of the Amsterdam School, that was also the most experimental and expressive: Michel de Klerk. His earliest work was part of the larger complex for the HIJSM rail company. The apex is the triangular housing complex known as The Ship, that was commissioned by Housing Association Eigen Haard.

The Spaarndammerplantsoen (Spaarndam Public Garden) forms the heart of the development of the HIJSM complex that consisted of two superblock comprised of sections designed by 4 different architects. Te best known of these is M. de Klerk.

Michel de Klerk is the architect who designed the two long facades flanking the public garden on the north and south side. The northern block was completed in 1915 and uses brick as ornamental device. This is especially clear on the corners that are embellished with masonry motifs (shown on the left) and in the stunning top gables above the entrances (on the right).The possibilities of making rounded shapes is used to great effect here.

Viewed from within the park the long northern facade shows great regularity. Monotony is defeated by the use of high top gables above the entrances and above the arched gateways. The two top floors are part of what appears to be the roof, bus is in fact a vertical expanse of red clay tiles. A ribbon of windows light the lower portion, whilst the top level is lit by small square windows.

The southern facade flanking the Spaarndammerplantsoen was also designed by De Klerk and was completed between 1918 and 1919. Here the ribbons of windows are arranged vertically, as most features in the facade are. This building also lacks a pitched roof, instead the gables end in a fanciful and decorative trim of roofing tiles above a frieze of brick ornaments.

On the corners the building negotiates the characteristics of the adjacent architecture. On the corner with the Wormerveerstraat a towering building connects to the brick vale of the park facade. An insert of vertical windows provides the seam. The domed roof of the corner building is dramatised by the continuation of the roofing tiles on the top level of the building, thus creating the impression of a much more imposing roof. These vertical tiles tie in with the bands of vertical tiles above the entrances on the park facade.

The block of 1919 is clad in sand coloured bricks on a plinth of manganese purple-red bricks. All windows are arranged in vertical series of variable size and shape (shown on the left). The semicircular windows underneath a protruding brick column with two small windows at its base and a hoist iron above, shows how De Klerk made functional elements highly decorative. The same can be said of the triangular windows with scalloped edges and the entrances (shown on the right). The doors with their imaginative use of angles, the rounded central column topped with a carved stone capital resembling an ox head. Also note the wavy masonry above the door.

On a triangular plot adjacent to the HIJSM housing complex the Housing Association Eigen Haard commissioned De Klerk to build a "palace for social housing" which was quickly nicknamed "The Ship" due to its distinctive shape with outline resembling a barge. The round tower on its point once gave access to a post office. The complex also includes a school (that was already in place, De Klerk masterfully incorporated this building into his grand design) and communal spaces for the residents. The complex is thus very reminiscent of the Gartenhöfe of Vienna.

The architect has made great effort to segment the long and high facades. He does this by banding, the use of vertical series of windows and undulating edges executed in brick. This is especially evident in the facade along the railway tracks (shown left). The crowning glory of the complex is formed by this brick-built turret (on the right) that sits between to low wings of the complex on the backside facing the Zaanhof housing complex.

The front section of the complex is a sculptural showcase of expressive design with a complexly shaped roof and great variety in the windows. Roof tiles are used in imaginative ways to emphasise the shape and break up the mass of the building. This is enforced by the use of ribbon windows.