Garden Village Buiksloterham South: high density village feel

As a result of the canal reservation that still separates the northern and southern sections of the Tuindorp Buiksloterham these are widely regarded as two separate garden villages. As the southern part was developed earlier and mostly by the Amsterdam Housing Service and the northern part was developed by several housing associations and the Amsterdam Housing Service combined, the two have a distinct feeling, thus separating them even further. The southern part -minus the distinct temporary housing of Disteldorp- will be shown first in this series of impressions.

The entrance to the southern portion of the garden village is emphasises by a semicircular square originally  with a public garden on either side of the central axis of the Vanderpeck Street. This entrance was also named after the original architect Jan Ernst van der Pek as Van der Pekplein (Vanderpeck Square). The street layout is fairly regular with short streets that bend away at a 45 degree angle. This formal entrance is inspired by English examples such as Letchworth Garden City.

The housing designed by J. E. van der Pek all have the distinctive banding in yellow brick on the ground floor (shown left). This simple device breaks up the long facades and visually lowers the building height. Such banding was a common feature of Dutch renaissance architecture. The housing is mostly two storeys high with an attic floor with large dormers. At the end of side streets and at corners the building height is often raised to three storeys with an attic floor under the roof. Here an example with a large gate that leads to a back passage that gives access to allotments and gardens.

The Meidoornplein is a large garden square with a small pavilion in the middle. This building that used to be a dispensary of bread and cheese for needy families is now used as an office.

The architecture throughout is fairly similar in appearance, Behind these brick facades only a few different types of houses are to be found. The doors amplify the rhythm of the architecture and help break up the long facades. The built out porches are reminiscent of farm architecture and can be on the side (left) or on the front (right). Porches with 4 doors indicate so-called over-and-under duplex houses.

The Jac. P. Thijsseplein is again a garden square and was named after the famous Dutch naturalist who founded the Society for the preservation of natural monuments in the Netherlands (Vereniging tot behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland) colloquially knows as Natuurmonumenten. On one side of this garden square (as seen on the right) a single storey old peoples housing project was built in the 1930s. Originally this was a paved square with some trees in the corners.

The corners of the long rows are often swerved sideways to emphasise the adjoining open space or street junction. All these plots were used for special forms of housing, mostly shops. On the left an example with large arched shop windows. The high gable ends are used everywhere to break up the long facades and give them a rhythmic quality. Along central open spaces the faced are made more distinct by adding high bays (on the right).

There are no straight streets all street have a distinct kink and run of at an angle to prevent long lines of sight along the streets. This is a classic Unwinesque design device. High gables are also used repetitively, as well as the dormers and extended porches. This gives the streets a fairly uniform character and also indices a great sense of place. Originally the streets had no trees, as is evident in older pictures, but in many places small facade gardens were provided to create a village feel.

The only straight street in the garden village is the central axis, that is flanked by shops with small maisonettes above. The street has recently been repaved and now is a windy expanse of brick and concrete. Originally this space would have had elm trees planted here. A new double row of trees is also part of the redesign, but are yet to be planted.

Greenery concentrates in the central garden squares of every neighbourhood of the southern portion of the garden village. Here the Lupineplein (Lupine Square) with heavy plane trees and a central playground surrounded by shrubbery.

Around Geranium Street a post-war neighbourhood shows a very different architectural expression. These modernism-inspired rows of terraced housing have off-white rendered facades on a low grey plinth. The front doors are all red and are emphasises with a thin awning of the Dutch type. The gate on the Juliet balconies are painted red like the doors. Originally these houses had front gardens. Most have been paved over now though.

The log rows of houses were designed by J.F. Berghoef. These so-called Airey-houses replace two former schools that once stood here and fill up a small section of the garden village designed by  Van der Pek, that was never completed. The buildings set this later addition apart from the stylistically unified architecture by Van der Pek with its simple ornamentation by use of structural ornaments and variations in colour or shape.

On the edges other buildings can be found that don't adhere to the stylistic unit of Van der Pel's architecture. On the left the former church in a traditionalist brick style that refers to Romanesque architecture. On the right the large public house that was inspired by 17th century brick architecture from Holland.

A large garden square -Gentian Square- also lies at the heart of the only neighbourhood developed by a housing association south of the canal reservation (that is now Moss Square). The layout of streets mirrors those found further north. The architecture also differs considerably from the brick renaissance inspired architecture of Jan Ernst van der Pek. The houses are not built in terraces, but as closed city blocks. Thus the street spaces wrap around the buildings instead of the buildings following the public space -as is the core of Unwinesque design principles.

The architecture of this neighbourhood around Gentian Square makes little effort to disguise the high building density of the development. In line with the intensions for the whole garden village and the Unwinesque design aesthetic the architecture has a strong vernacular inspiration that is evident in the green weatherboarded gable tops that reference local historic architecture. The treatment of the blocks is however inspired by Art Deco Garden Court as were being built throughout Vienna at the time.

Urban nature: survivalists

In the minds of many, nature is the opposite of city: an antithesis of outside the realm of human influence and completely man-made. Current research contradicts this however. As there are more species of plants, invertebrates and birds to be found within the urbanized areas than in the rural areas. Urban nature is often specific with a tendency to favour species that are adaptable, can regenerate or reproduce quickly or are tolerant of specific conditions. This means that as a result of all the brick, concrete and stone combined with the heat island effect in cities, we often see species that are associated with mountainous areas or warmer climes.

Paved areas provide a specific habitat in urban areas. On the left Yellow Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and Canadian Horseweed (Conyza canadensis) that are both species that thrive in dry conditions. The Toadflax reproduces easily from little rhizomes and is thus favoured by road works. Many of the common city plants are ruderal species that can quickly take over a suitable habitat. One such species is Perennial Wallrocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) which is always buzzing with bees because of the sweet smelling flowers. Smooth Hawk's-beard (Crepis cappillaris) is one of the most common dandelion-type flowering plants. This annual can quickly colonize free space for instance between the cracks of a concreted drive way (on the right).  

Disteldorp (Amsterdam-North): vernacular temporary housing that lasted

The housing in Disteldorp was intended to stand 10 years. Due to massive overcrowding around the city centre it was quickly decided to leave the buildings standing for at least 25 years. The houses were refurbished in 1932 and again in the 1980s. They were completely renovated in 2003 after being listed. The architect is not known but said to be B.T. Boeyinga with a street plan by Jan Ernst van der Pek or J.H. Mulder.

Disteldorp is less orthogonal than its twin Vogeldorp and owes more to Unwinesque examples of garden cities and suburbs. This is clearly visible at the edged and around the back yards within the block. The open style of building with short terraces and some semidetached properties is in line with Garden City Ideals. In some streets (as shown on the right) a rectilinear approach in street layout is combined with the vernacular inspired architecture.

The typical placement of the houses with alternating directions of the roof ridge echoes a village in Waterland. It was the intention to create a small village in Amsterdam North. No building could therefore exceed 3 storeys to set this part of the city apart from typical housing blocks of 4 storeys in the old city. The privet hedges are part of the original design and also aim to aid the village-character of the place.

The emphasize the sense of community the small garden village was given these gate buildings that give access to the main streets that lead to the central facilities. The design was based on regional architecture and wharf sheds in particular. The black colour of the weatherboarding and other woodwork is original and distinguishes Disteldorp from vernacular buildings in shades of blue green and grey.

Another example of a gate building. These low volumes are being accompanied by equally low terraces without wood cladding visible in the front facade. These low buildings are one of three types built within this temporary garden village. They were aimed at providing living accommodation for young couples and elderly folk.

All the houses in Disteldorp have a front and back garden. Some even have a side garden. All gardens are edges with low privet hedges. There are no gates to close of the garden as a means to encourage social interaction between residents. The buildings form a stylistic unified ensemble by the reoccurring use of wood cladding, orange tiles, white bargeboards and light bricks for the different house types.

At the heart of the garden village a large rectangular green (Distelplein) was designed with around it room for shops. The shops were provided with these decorative Dutch awnings. The shops have been changed into normal dwellings after they had stood empty for many years due to the new shopping centre that was built further north and the competition from shops around the Mosplein.

Originally 224 houses were built in Disteldorp. In the 2003 renovation the small dwellings have been merged to create larger houses and also create space to improve insulation on the inside. As part of the renovation new sheds were erected in the back garden (left) that are in keeping with the restored original buildings. The buildings were fitted with double glazing, loft insulation and new dormers. All buildings are listed and form an excellent example of ensemble architecture.

The houses of Disteldorp were built on sand excavated from the North Sea dunes to stabilise the soil. The buildings were built as wooden frames with an infill of bricks and planks. The homes were small, but were an enormous improvement on the single-room dwellings and slums that the residents came from.

Getting around... Amsterdam

Although Amsterdam is a modest metropolis of a little over 800.000 inhabitants the city knows many forms of public transport. This is off coarse partly due to the narrowness of the historic streets that often run along canals. This combined with the extensive implementation of one-way streets to create space for cycling lanes, makes this capital city of the Netherland fairly cumbersome to navigate by car.

After Utrecht, Amsterdam is the busiest train hub in the country with train lines radiating out to all corners of the Netherlands. Most international trains also depart from here. Within the metropolitan area public transport is organised by GVB, the municipal public transport operator. This publicly owned company runs the river ferries, busses, trams and underground within Amsterdam. There are currently 16 tram routes that span the city, but only south of the Y. The 4 metro lines also only run south of the Y, with a fifth line that connects Amsterdam-North with the rest of the city -the eponymous north-south line- now under construction. The 3 ferries across the Y are without charge to provide better connectivity from Amsterdam-North to the city and especially the central station. The two harbour ferries that run east west along the North Sea Channel do charge. The canal boats are not a form of public transportation!

All vehicles of GVB have the same colour scheme: blue and white. The modes of transport vary from the Y ferry from Amsterdam-North to the central station (left), to city busses (middle) and trams (on the right).

Tuindorp Buiksloterham: an Amsterdam garden suburb - Part 2 North

The northern section of the Garden Village Buiksloterham situated over the reservation for the proposed Johan van Hasselt Canal was developed after work started on the southern section. The fact that building work started so much later wasn't intentional however. It had everything to do with policy changes concerning social housing on government level which hindered the Amsterdam City Council to execute its ambitious goals.

The northern part of the Garden Village Buiksloterham was developed in sections over a period of time, starting in 1921 and ending in 1950 with the completion of the church. The northern section of the garden village comprises of several distinct section on either side of the central Kamperfoeliestraat (Honeysuckle Street) that all have their own colloquial name: Floradorp (F), Zomers Buiten (ZB) also known as BLoemenbuurt Noord, Latherusbuurt Noord (Ln) and Latherusbuurt Zuid (Ls) that are both also known as Bloemenbuurt Zuid, and Bloemenbuurt West (W) directly north of the Mosplein (Moss Square - M) with the church. This former Maranatha Church is now the Coptic Church of the Virgin Mary.

All housing was built aided by subsidies given out under the 1901 Housing Act by central government to local authorities and housing associations. Due to the large pool of bad housing available in the city Amsterdam could claim large sums to aid its house building activities in the northern Y polders. The houses needed to comply with the standards set by central government to be eligible for a government advance to finance construction. The advance under favourable conditions needed to be repaid by the local authority or housing association in the decade after completion. The 1917 Emergency Housing Act that financed the Disteldorp and Vogeldorp housing made possible government grants to finance the building of emergency housing.

The housing in the northern section of the garden village was built in several building campaigns by both the Municipal Housing Service of Amsterdam and several housing associations and building coops. Each developed a number of houses in a distinct design, clearly setting each contribution to the whole garden village apart from one another. After WW2 the western section was completed (completion had originally been planned for 1940).

Although the city council preferred to build all the housing themselves, in large part financed by government advances, sections of the proposed new garden villages were set aside for development by housing associations. This move was in part practical as during the 1920s central government turned away from financing house building by municipalities but instead preferred homebuilding by housing associations. In 1921 Woningbouwvereniging Ons Belang (literally: Housing Association Our Stake) starts the development of 4 blocks of housing around Andoornstraat (Woundwort Street). The adjoining plot between the Clematisstraat (Clematis Street) and Latherusstraat (Vetchling Street) Protestantse Woningbouw (Protestant Building Society) erected working class housing in 1925. These housing associations had problems getting house building started because of the high land values. So the city council decided to provide a guarantee for the purchase of land in the Polder Buiksloterham to the housing association Zomers Buiten (literally: Country retreat for Summer). The housing association starts building between the Azaleastraat (Azalea Street) and Sneeuwbalstraat (Viburnum Street) in 1924. The Municipal Housing Service started building new housing north of this area in 1927. A private developer built the houses, shops and cinema between Mosveld and Mosplein (Moss Square).The houses in the undeveloped area on either side of the Ribesstraat (Current Street) were built between 1929 and 1932 by Woningbouwvereniging Eigen Haard (literally: Housing Association Home Hearth). They also developed the homes along Heggerankweg (Bryony Road). South of these houses the Amsterdamsche Coöperatieve Onderwijzers Bouwvereniging (Amsterdam Building Cooperative for Teachers) built houses in 1931 on the Kamperfoelieweg (Honeysuckle Road) and later along the southern stretch of the Heggerankweg.

The layout of the northern section of Tuindorp Buiksloterham made the most of the terrain and at the same time allowed for a gradual development as this part of the garden village would be divided amongst several housing associations. Green squares form the focus of the wedge shaped portions that make up the garden village. In the earliest part the lines don't converge within the garden village as they do in the later northern portions. Amenities like a police station, fire station, old peoples housing, schools, shops and communal hall were all located on one of the axis in the street layout or on a green square.   

The section of the garden village north of the canal reservation was treated as a separate entity and consisted of several wedge-shaped neighbourhoods that now make up the Floradorp (Village of Flora) and the Bloemenbuurt (Neighbourhood of the Flowers) further south. The name Tuindorp Buiksloterham has fallen into disuse and as mentioned before the inhabitants tend to subdivide the sections of the garden village into neighbourhoods. The Florapark was planned as part of the total layout thus adhering to garden city ideals of living in a green and healthy environment.