Amsterdam North: a necklace of garden villages on polder land

In the Y polders north of Amsterdam several garden villages were built between 1910 and 1960 to provide new and better housing for the working classes of the city that were often living in substandard housing or even squalorous conditions. The ideas of the Garden City Movement were picked up by socialist politicians and union leaders eager to improve the lives of their rank and file. The nineteenth century polders of the former Y-bay were seen as a perfect location as the city already owned the land, the city councillors wanted to expand the industrial activities on this side of the North Sea Canal and the rural surroundings of Waterland would both improve health and temperance of the intended working class population.

The garden villages in the Polder Watergraafsmeer, Polder Nieuwendammerham, Polder Buiksloterham and North Polder owe their existence to the progressive city councillors Floor Wibaut (1859-1936) and Monne de Miranda (1875-1942) together with Arie Kepler (1876-1941) the director of the Municipal Housing Service Amsterdam. Together they are responsible for the building of 30,000 new houses in Amsterdam between 1910 and 1940. In the Polder Buiksloterham, that was drained in 1851, successive neighbourhoods of social housing were developed starting with Disteldorp (1918). Later the so-called Van der Pekbuurt (1919), Bloemenbuurt (1921) and Floradorp (1928) were built that together make up the garden village Buiksloterham. The area was nicknamed De Rimboe (The Wilds) due to its isolated location and 't Rooie Dorp (The Red Village) due to the socialist sympathies of the inhabitants.

Development of new garden village satellites had started in 1910 with the first so-called Vogelbuurt (literally Bird Neighbourhood) on the southern tip of Volewijk next to the sluices and locks in the North Holland Canal. This Garden Village Volewijck was expanded in two building campaigns starting in 1916 and 1927. Development of the proposed necklace of garden villages started in 1919 with the Garden Village Oostzaan and the southern part of the Garden Village Buiksloterham: the Van der Pekbuurt named after the principle architect Jan Ernst van der Pek. Around the same time planning for the Garden Village Nieuwendam starts although building doesn't start before 1923. The last garden village to be built, starting in 1930, was the Garden Village Buiksloot -not in a polder, but like Garden Village Nieuwendam on so-called old land. To prepare for the development the area was raised with sand and slurry which resulted in the colloquial Tuindorp 't Blauwe Zand (Blue Sand Garden Village) after the bluish colour of the manganese-rich material used. After  WW2 a traditionalist neighbourhood was built east of Garden Village Oostzaan. This development can also be typified as a garden village although the typical Unwinesque treatment of the streetscape is mostly absent. This Fruitdorp (Litterally Fruit Village) was built on a former sludge deposit and is also known as Terrasdorp (Terrace Village) as a result of the higher elevation. The inhabitants call this area Tuttifruttidorp after the tutti-frutti dried fruit mix. 

Amsterdam-North comprises of both old land and new land (in tangerine) that are separated by the old sea dyke. Behind the dyke there are some old polders: Buikslotermeerpolder (P1), Wilmkebreekpolder (P2) and Kouhornerbraakpolder (P3). The empoldered sections of the Y estuary are: Buiksloterhampolder (P4), Noordpolder (P5) and Nieuwendammerhampolder (P6).The historic settlement are all located on the old land: Oostzaner Overtoom (O), Landsmeer Zuiderbuurt (L), Kadoelen (K), Buiksloot (B), Zunderdorp (Z), Nieuwendam (N), Schellinkwoude (S), Ransdorp (R), Durgerdam (D) and finally Tolhuis (T) on the Volewijk peninsula at the beginning of the North Holland Canal (C). The garden villages that were developed here from 1910 onwards are: Volewijck (1), Disteldorp (2), Vogelbuurt (3), Van der Pekbuurt (4), Oostzaan (5) with the post-war extension (5*), Nieuwendam (6), Buiksloterham (7), Buiksloot (8), Woonschool (9) and Fruitdorp (10).

Summer buzz

Despite all the rain that has come down this summer there is enough time and opportunity to get out and about. Dry and sunny weather immediately has an effect, not just on me, but also on the insects buzzing around. With so many of our insects under threat in the countryside, the (sub)urban landscape can provide a safe haven. This does mean that local authorities defer from using chemicals as pest control and education of residents who startle at every creepy crawly that dares to come close. Rather than trying to destroy all insects in our living environment we should celebrate these little creatures as natures little helpers that provide us with many a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Most people know of bees, but hoverflies are less well known. They are often mistaken for bees and wasps as a result of their appearance. This is the intention of this mimicry: these stingless insect posing as their stinging lookalikes. The insect on the right, however, isn't posing but is a genuine wasp, that is trying to steal nectar from a Meadow pea.

Real bees and bumblebees have a waist, something flies and hoverflies lack. The difference becomes clear by comparing the two outer pictures. On the right a large hoverfly is feeding on the flowers of Mint. On the left a bumblebee is doing the same on the flowers of Marjoram. How pollination works can be seen in the middle where a bumblebee is completely covered in pollen from a large thistle.

The only insects that are allowed to come nearby most people are butterflies. Almost everyone loves these colourful insect. The caterpillars that proceed the butterflies are seen in less favourable light however. The most common butterflies where I live are: Small White (left), Speckled Wood (middle) and Small Tortoiseshell (right). I haven't seen many of the normally abundant Peacock butterflies this year though...

Gartenstadt Rüppurr: from the Unwinesque aesthetic to German Plattenbau

The buildings along the Heckenstraße (Hedge Street) are typical for early garden villages that follow the Unwinesque aesthetic. The oldest buildings (at the front) are mostly semidetached and terraces of three, whilst the houses that were built after 1912 are mostly terraced as can be seen further down the street.

Two examples of vernacular inspired architecture in the first building phase along the Holderweg (Elder Road) that at the time was called Auerweg (Meadow Road). Both buildings have variable roof shapes with protruding gables and windows with shutters. The walls are rendered with a fine roughcast or with weatherboarding.  

The Blütenweg (Flower Road) is a classic Unwinesque close with buildings along a central public garden. Most buildings are semidetached except for the row of terraced housing along the northside of the close.

The buildings from the first and second phase  sit well next to the ensemble around the Ostendorfplatz. The two buildings (as seen on the right) directly behind the shops on the garden square show that although slightly different in details have been designed along the same lines as the semicircular blocks of shops. This second and third phase were designed by Friedrich Ostendorf after whom the central square was named in 1915.

The semicircular Ostendorfplatz was designed as the new centre linking garden village and the old village of Rüppurr. The buildings still house shops and are located near the S-Bahn Station Gartenstadt. n ornamental fountain sits at the centre of this garden square.

 

The curved street Im Grün (In the Green), built in phases 1 and 2, is typical of the classical Unwinesque design principles with mainly large semidetached properties and some terraces that are set back from the road to create a more interesting streetscape. 

The streets laid out as part of Ostendorf's phase 2 are all similar with alternation terraces and semidetached houses. The Rosenweg (Rose Road) is an excellent example. Along this street the houses are finished in white roughcast with bottle green wooden shutters and hipped roofs that reference the vernacular architecture of the Back Forest. The buildings along the Asternweg (Aster Road) and Resedenweg (Weld Road) are coloured ochre instead of white.

In the details of Ostendorf's buildings it is clear that he has tried to integrate multiple ideas within buildings that have a cottage-like and romantic feel. The floor plans of most of the properties are similar, but there has been great effort made to differentiate the buildings in appearance.

Two L-shaped along Krokusweg (Crocus Road) form a formal termination of the garden village along the central Holderweg. These buildings are part of the 1930s buildings built in the so-called Stuttgarter Schule (a traditionalist school of architecture favoured after 1933).The buildings blend well into the earlier and even later building phases.

The blocks of flats that were built after WW2 to replace damaged buildings (right) are very sympathetically designed and fit in well with the older remaining blocks of flats (left). The older apartment buildings have hipped roofs, are 1 storey lower and have more elaborately detailed wall openings.

 

Along the Irisweg (Flag Iris Road) the shift away from Unwinesque treatment of the streets and placement of the housing blocks can be clearly seen. On the southside of the road are long terraces of family houses with a front and back garden. On the northside of the street are parallel blocks of flats (Zeilenbau in German). That way of building has been a staple of social housing in Germany since the 1920s as a part of the modernist movement.