Tuindorp Buiksloterham: an Amsterdam garden suburb - Part 1 South

This garden village is located along the eastern half of the Polder Buiksloterham. This former depot where sludge dredged from the canals and ditched in and around Amsterdam was deposited was empoldered in the 19th century to create new farmland for the village of Buiksloot. The name stems from this neighbouring village where a ham (higher land along water) was located. Then name was applied to the silt deposits at the foot of the dyke on either side of the Volewijk peninsula with the Buiksloterham on the westside and the Nieuwendammerham on the eastside. The new polder proved less than successful due to compaction of the soil which led to drainage problems. In the 1870s the empoldering of the Y was completed creating the North Sea canal and several new polders.

To create a shortcut in the North Sea Canal -that curved around Volewijk- Johan van Hasselt the director of Public Works proposes a new canal to be excavated through the polders Buiksloterham and Nieuwendammerham in 1900. Parts of this canal were built on the outsides. The high costs involved with crossing the North Holland Canal prevent completion. The reservation remains undeveloped until the mid-1930s when new plans are drawn for a new canal connecting Oostzanerwerf with the Zeeburger Island. The Buiksloterham Canal is excavated in 1938 to improve the use of the Johan van Hassel Canal West. The Johan van Hasselt Canal East was filled in. The canal reservation remained a wide division in the new garden village, so much so that The southern and northern sections were (and are) seen as two separate garden villages.

The Garden Village Buiksloterham was developed in sections over a long period of time, starting in 1918 and ending in 1950 with the completion of replacement housing. The garden village comprises of two distinct section on either side of the canal reservation (R) for the Johan van Hasselt Canal (JHC) that is now the Mosveld (Moss Field) market square. The southern section comprises of Van der Pekbuurt (V), Disteldorp (D) and Gentiaanbuurt (G). The northern section comprises of several stylistic units: Floradorp (F), Zomers Buiten (Z), Latherusbuurt Noord (Ln), Latherusbuurt Zuid (Ls) -together also known as Bloemenbuurt- and Bloemenbuurt West (W). The Florapark (P lies to the west. Near the locks at the beginning of the North Holland Canal stands the Toll House (T).

Directly south of the western section of the canal the temporary housing of Disteldorp (literally: Thistle Village) was built to house displaced Belgian refugees between 1817 and 1918. It was probably designed by the architect Boeyinga. The twin of Disteldorp called Vogeldorp (literally: Bird Village) was built in the Polder Nieuwendammerham further east. This garden city inspired development of 224 dwelling units was refurbished several times to convert it into permanent housing.

In 1919 building work starts on adjacent land to the south between the canal reservation and the toll house at the beginning of the North Holland Canal (completed 1825). Here a new garden village of 1,468 housing units was planned from 1918 onwards by Jan Ernst van der Pek. He also designed the bulk of the building that were erected here. After his unexpected death in 1919 at the age of 53, it is decided to rename the first section of the Tuindorp Buiksloterham Van der Pekbuurt (Vanderpeck Neighbourhood) in his honour. The housing area is in actual fact subdivided in several neighbourhoods each with a green square at its heart, so the name is rather deceptive. 

The street plan makes creative use of the space available. By designing the garden village as a series of neighbourhoods clustered around an open space the plan could be easily built in phases. Shops are located along the central boulevard (Van der Pekstraat). Between 1914 and 1926 there was also a swimming pool (Obeltbad) on the edge of the Polder Buiksloterham in the Y. The surrounding factories and heavy industry made the water increasingly unsuited for bathing and swimming so the facility was closed.

 

All housing was developed and rented out by the Municipal Housing Service of Amsterdam. In 1929 the Jac. P Thijsebuurt designed by J.H. Mulder, who was their in-house architect, was added on the eastside. Development on this side of the garden village had stalled due to changing rules for financing social housing by central government. This meant that from 1924 onwards house building by Housing Associations was favoured over house building by local authorities directly. So the adjacent Gentiaanbuurt with 278 housing units was built in 1925, not by the city but by a Housing Association. On the edge of the development a church with secondary school for girls (St. Rosavakschool) and convent was built in 1925, 1927 and 1930 respectively. Further north also on the edge of the garden village a primary school was built in 1927. After a bomb destroyed several houses around the Geraniumplein (Pelargonium Square) in 1943 this neighbourhood was rebuilt in 1950 with 28 houses less than the original situation.

The street plan was probably drawn by ir J Mulder (1900-'88). She was the resident urban designer and landscape architect working for the city of Amsterdam at the time. She should not be confused with J.H. Mulder the architect working for the Municipal Housing Service Amsterdam. The layout of the southern section of the garden village Buiksloterham is very formal with a central boulevard that is aligned towards the dome of the Basilica of Saint Nicolas. Side streets run of this central boulevard at right angles but always bend away to connect to another street. The Vanderpeck Neighbourhood roughly has a rhomboid shape with Disteldorp and the Gentiaanbuurt filling the corners providing an upturned bell shape. The street plan is a distorted grid with no cul-de-sacs. A small park was planted between the garden village and the North Holland Canal. Half of this space has been developed for housing in 1958 and 1987, leaving an even smaller park. The playing fields further north along the shipping canal were built over in 1994.

 

Within the municipal plans no provisions were made for public houses. These were later added on the edge of the garden village in a similar way to the church (A), the school for girls (B), the convent (C) and the primary school (D).The predesigned layout of the streets allowed for a gradual development. The southern section of the garden village Buiksloterham consists of three distinct subsections that are in part neighbourhoods. Green squares are a reoccurring theme in the layout. The Distelplein (Thistle Square) lies at the heart of Disteldorp (1) In a simmilar way teh Gentiaanplein (Gentian Square) lies at the centre of the Gentian Neighbourhood (5). In the Van der Pekbuurt garden squares also form the central focus of several neighbourhoods, but these mostly lie at the edge of a neighbourhood defining it towards the area adjacent.This is especially true of the Van der Pek Plein (2 - Vanderpeck Square) Meidoornplein (4 - Hawthorn Square) and Jac. P. Thijsenplein (6). The Lupineplein (3 - Lupin Square) and Geraniumplein (7 - Pelargonium Square) are more centrally located within their respective neighbourhoods. Closes are not used because the police wanted to be able to patrol the streets without getting caught in cul-de-sacs.