Most visitors to Amsterdam look at seventeenth-century canal houses and stop there. But some of the city's most original architecture was built three hundred years later, in brick, for working families. The Amsterdam School (Amsterdamse School) was an expressive style of roughly 1910 to the 1930s, and you can find it on bridges, housing blocks, schools, and post offices all over the city.

What is the Amsterdam School?

The Amsterdam School is a Dutch form of expressionist architecture. Its buildings are usually brick, often with curved walls, rounded corners, towers, sculptural details, and decorative brickwork laid in patterns. Windows, doors, lettering, and even letterboxes were designed as part of the whole.

The key figures were Michel de Klerk, Piet Kramer, and Johan van der Mey, who had worked together in the office of architect Eduard Cuypers. The magazine Wendingen, published from 1918, spread their ideas.

Why it happened: housing for everyone

The Housing Act of 1901 (Woningwet) allowed municipalities and housing associations to build subsidised homes with public money. Amsterdam used it on a large scale. Many of the new blocks for working families were given to Amsterdam School architects, who believed good housing should be beautiful as well as sanitary.

That is why the style is strongest in residential neighbourhoods rather than in the historic centre — and why a visit is a good way to see a side of Amsterdam that most tourists miss. Our Amsterdam history guide places this period in the city's wider story.

Buildings worth seeing

Scheepvaarthuis (Prins Hendrikkade)

Often called the first Amsterdam School building, the Scheepvaarthuis (Shipping House) was built from 1913 to 1916, designed by Van der Mey with De Klerk and Kramer, as offices for several shipping companies. Its facade and interiors are covered in maritime sculpture and ironwork. It is now a hotel, a short walk east of Centraal Station.

Het Schip (Spaarndammerbuurt)

Michel de Klerk's Het Schip (The Ship), completed around 1920 for the housing association Eigen Haard, is a complete block of workers' housing with a small post office and a school. Its tower and boat-like shape give it its nickname. Today it houses Museum Het Schip, which tells the story of the Amsterdam School and offers tours of a restored workers' apartment.

De Dageraad (Amsterdam-Zuid)

In the south of the city, around the Pieter Lodewijk Takstraat, the De Dageraad housing complex by De Klerk and Kramer shows the style's rolling brick facades at their most dramatic. It sits within the area of Berlage's Plan Zuid, the city extension where much Amsterdam School housing was built.

Bridges by Piet Kramer

As architect for the city's public works department, Piet Kramer designed hundreds of Amsterdam's bridges. Once you know the style — heavy brick and stone, rounded forms, sculpted details, and wrought-iron railings — you will notice them all over the canal ring as well as in the newer neighbourhoods.

From Golden Age to Amsterdam School

The Amsterdam School looks nothing like a seventeenth-century canal house, but it shares some things with it: brick, craftsmanship, and a strong interest in decoration at the top of the building. Our guide to reading canal house gables is a useful comparison.

It is also a reaction against the architecture that came just before it. H.P. Berlage's stock exchange on the Damrak (the Beurs van Berlage, completed in 1903) replaced historical ornament with plain brick and honest structure, and influenced the younger architects even as they moved in a more expressive direction.

A self-guided Amsterdam School route

  1. Scheepvaarthuis — start near Centraal Station.
  2. Beurs van Berlage — a short walk down the Damrak, for the building that came just before.
  3. Spaarndammerbuurt and Museum Het Schip — a bus or bike ride to the north-west, or about 25 minutes on foot from Centraal Station.
  4. Amsterdam-Zuid and De Dageraad — on a separate trip, combined with De Pijp or the Rivierenbuurt.

These neighbourhoods are also some of the best places to get away from the centre's crowds; see our guide to avoiding Amsterdam's tourist crowds.

If you would like an architecture-focused day with transport between neighbourhoods, our Concierge Day in Amsterdam can be built around it. To start with the historic centre, book the Golden Age City Center tour.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous Amsterdam School building?

Het Schip by Michel de Klerk is the best known, and it houses the museum dedicated to the movement. The Scheepvaarthuis is usually considered the first major Amsterdam School building.

Can you visit inside Het Schip?

Yes. Museum Het Schip offers visits and guided tours that include a restored apartment and the former post office. Check the museum's website for times.

Is Amsterdam School the same as Art Deco?

No. They overlap in period and share some decorative ideas, but the Amsterdam School is usually classified as a Dutch form of expressionism, closely tied to brick and social housing.

Sources and further reading