Amsterdam Urban Route: West

This non-tourist urban cycle route is a cross-section through western Amsterdam, in roughly chronological order from 17th-century to 20th-century areas. Approximately 3 hours. Revised January 2008.

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start at the mega cycle-rack on the western side of Centraal Station. It is built in the water, in front of the Ibis hotel, beside the 12-storey tower with metallic facade. The new hotel and office tower are a deliberate contrast with the late 19th century station (see this overall view). More development around the station is in progress: partly for new high-speed trains, partly for the north-south metro line, partly for general traffic growth.

cycle up the cycle-rack, for the view. The line of older buildings across the water is the original waterfront of Amsterdam. Centraal Station was built on an artificial island in the 1880's, and it cut the old city from the harbour. Visible right are the 1884 railway offices, and to the left the neo-Baroque St. Nicolaas church

go back down and cross the tube-arch cycle bridge, beside the 12-storey tower. On the other side, turn right, through the underpass. Note the old lock gates in the Singel canal: they once opened into tidal water.

at road level, turn right over the bridge. The Singel was the city moat: you are already leaving the area of the small mediaeval city. Continue into the Haarlemmer straat, the mediaeval road to Haarlem: some 17th-century houses, much 19th-century, some recent infill.

pass left at nr. 75 the West-Indisch Huis, former headquarters of the Dutch West India Company. The Company was probably the largest single slave trader in history, although Holland was not the largest slave-trading state.

go on to the Korte Prinsengracht canal, cross the bridge, and turn right, passing Korte Prinsengracht nr 20.

go on to the cycle bridge, which runs under the railway viaduct, to the quayside of a former dock basin. Across the basin, the new apartment blocks are on the site of a former railway yard.

continue along this quayside, past 1980's blocks.

The quayside is closed in early 2008, for construction work. Turn left, then right along Grote Bickers straat. Then turn left, into the short Kleine Bickers straat.

go on across the bridge over Bickers gracht. The structure of the 17th-century dock basins is preserved here.

turn left at the first corner, at the new apartments. This street is a rectangle around an artificial warehouse island, Prinsen eiland. Here there was relatively early (1980's) gentrification of 17th and 18th century warehouses. Several are listed at the Amsterdam monuments site on warehouses.

around the next corner, pass a group with triangular top gables, numbered 269-321 (Witte Pelikaan).

at the next corner, pass the houses 24a and 24b. They were purpose built as artists studios, for the painter George Hendrik Breitner in 1898. His photographs, along with those of Jacob Olie, are the best visual record of late 19th-century Amsterdam. Click on 'Toen en Nu' at the VVAB website for an online collection, with recent views of the same locations.

pass a line of heritage warehouses, nrs. 77-85, then a single warehouse with recently cleaned brick, nr 75 (Mercurius), then a group of five warehouses at nr 65-73 (Mars, Broek in Waterland, Goudenkop, Korenbeurs, Schelvisch).

cycle round the next corner. After the green-painted shed, turn left - over the narrow wooden lifting bridge, over Realengracht. Cycle on into the Vierwindendwars straat ("transverse street of the four winds").

at the end turn right: here some urban-renewal infill, dating from before the current gentrification pressure. At Taandwars straat turn left, then right along the quayside of the Zoutkeets gracht, towards another wooden lifting bridge.

turn left over the bridge, into Bokkinghangen. Until about 150 years ago, herrings were hung here in sheds, to dry into bokking. No traces of the former function remain: during the industrial revolution they had no time for industrial heritage.

at Barentsz plein, turn right towards two former grain silos converted to prestige apartments. The first one was a simple 1950's concrete structure: after cleaning and addition of windows, it looks like a new building. The older brick silos behind it are a listed monument, silo "Korthals Altes", a former art squat.

cross the main road (van Diemen straat) toward the silos, and cycle along the access road (Silodam). The original structure and appearance of the oldest silo have been lost. It would have been cheaper to demolish it and build new apartments - but the rich pay extra money to live in 'heritage' buildings.

cycle on to the new block. Several local politicians and council officials allocated themselves apartments here: one resigned when the story was published, during local elections in 2002. You can walk under the building, and up the steps to a platform with a view of the Amsterdam harbour - but the doors are not always open.

turn back, past the 1950's silo, and this time turn right, along van Diemen straat, at the construction site (IJside apartment block).

pass two warehouses converted to offices: Y tech and Y point. (The letter IJ, the single-letter name of the estuary into which the Amstel drains, can be written as ij, ÿ, or y). Typical gentrified docklands: new media, designers, art consultancy, market research.

at the end of van Diemen straat, cross an inland shipping canal (you will pass it several times). Continue straight on, along the Tasman straat. On the right are the old timber docks, Houthavens. The zone is being redeveloped, the Spaarndammerhout Project. At present it is used for temporary student housing, including an ex-cruise ship, renamed Rochdale One.

at the next traffic lights, go on past the Albert Heijn supermarket, and then turn left, into Hembrug straat. This area was built around the time of the First World War.

cross the Oostzaan straat, on the left is the most famous of all the 1920's social housing projects: the 1917/1921 block with Post Office designed for housing association Eigen Haard by Michel de Klerk.

stop at the most-photographed feature, the tiled steeple on the left. At this point, turn right into the arched entrance of another Amsterdam School project, Zaanhof. It is an enclosed garden, influenced by the English Garden City movement.

go along the right-hand side and exit by another arch, beside nr 114-116. The keystone here gives the date, 1919: the text praises the generosity of the city authorities.

go up the steps, and turn left along the access road - no need to cross the main road here. Pass the Tulip Inn Arthotel, and at the cycle sign go straight on - the only direction which is not signposted.

200 m after the Tulip Inn, go under the rail line in an underpass. (If you do not pass under this tunnel, then you went wrong at the Tulip Inn). Immediately after the underpass tunnel, turn left onto the cycle path at the sign 'Weth. de Roos Schoolwerktuin'.

the path rises slightly, after 100 m turn right, sign for Begraafplaats St. Barbara. Pass left this graveyard, heavily planted with trees: like most Dutch cemeteries, the ground is raised.

100 m after the graveyard entrance, stop at some fields, with an old farm building. This is the last surviving agricultural remnant, so close to the city centre (about 3 km).

You are standing on the mediaeval sea dike of the IJ south bank. It is called the Spaarndammer dijk: it extends to the village of Spaarndam, near Haarlem. The fields are on the original land side: most of the land to the north - the present port zone - was salt water and mud flats until the 1870's.

from this point turn back, back past the graveyard, toward the railway maintenance depot. At the fence of the depot, turn right along the cycle path, Overbraker pad.

pass under the rail line, through the cycle underpass tunnel: you are now in the recently extended Westerpark. It was originally a small 19th-century park, which gave its name to the Borough of Westerpark. Pass (left) more grazing land, abandoned to revert to a pseudo-natural state, so-called Nieuwe Natuur, new nature.

the path rises: just before the cycle bridge, turn left (sign for Stadsdeelkantoor). This cycle path is raised, because it is the old embankment of the rail line to Haarlem.

The park is laid out on the site of a 19th-century coal-gas plant, the Westergasfabriek: the buildings are being redeveloped as a gentrified arts/cultural centre. The 1854 topographic map still shows open fields here: but later in the 19th century parks, housing and industry were built outside the city walls. The gas plant became redundant after the introduction of natural gas.

the path rises level with the rail line: here the tiled steeple is visible left. Ahead, the building nearest the path is the borough council offices. Cycle straight on, through the older section of park.

as you leave the park, at the sculpture, turn right. Cross the main road at the traffic lights, toward the pink 8-storey block.

go into the street beside this block, De Witten straat. This quarter is the Staatsliedenbuurt, with late 19th-century housing and schools, and much urban-renewal infill from the 1970's to the 1990's.

cross tram line 10, go straight on. At the end of de Witten straat, turn left, then right along the quayside: this is the inland shipping canal again (Kostverloren vaart).

Here the gentrification of the area is highly visible, in a cluster of upmarket apartment blocks along the canal. 15 years ago the sites were used by warehouses and light industry. The apartments ahead are the most prestigious, the Krier / Kohl Meander project.

cross the wooden footbridge, and turn left along the van der Palm kade. Go past the primary school (on the ground floor of the block), and up the steps.

turn right, then first left, into Donker Curtius straat. It takes you back to the quayside of the Kostverloren vaart. The quayside apartments here were built in 2003.

pass a restored windmill, De Otter - a sawmill on a relict industrial location, with old wooden sheds. Even 300 years ago, activities not wanted inside the city walls relocated to this area. The 1854 map specifically indicates 'sawmills' along this stretch of canal.

continue over a cycle bridge over a side canal. Cross the road at the end of the cycle bridge, and turn left, crossing the Kostverloren vaart.

immediately after the bridge, turn right, down the steps, then along the waterside path, past apartment blocks. On the opposite bank is older urban-renewal housing - dating from before the gentrification of the canalside sites. The metal objects in the water are Art.

pass the semi-circular hall of a residential home, and cross the arched steel footbridge / cycle-bridge. Visible left is the Westerkerk.

from the bridge go straight on, along Bilderdijk kade. Cross the tram route at De Clercq straat, a typical 19th-century radial road. This area is generally typical of late-19th-century expansion. The houses along the canal itself were (and are) more upmarket than those in the side streets.

at Kwakers plein, turn right over the bridge, into Kwakers straat. Pass at nr. 3 a borough council office (Oud-West).

at Bellamy plein, go left of the small public garden, past an old tram depot (awaiting conversion). Go on into Bellamy straat.

This is definitively a low-income area with cheap late 19th century housing (never inhabited by any form of gentry). It is now a Turkish area, but still not a ghetto. At the corner the street market in ten Kate straat, perhaps the most authentic (in the sense of retaining its original function, although now for a largely immigrant population). The housing along ten Kate straat is classic revolutiebouw, 'revolutionary build'. The 'revolution' was the discovery that small private builders could mass-produce cheap housing, and that the slowly rising incomes of the poor now allowed them to rent it. Two families once lived on each floor: perhaps 15 people, in what is now considered acceptable for one student.

continue along Bellamy straat, past smaller 19th-century houses, unusual for Amsterdam, even some two-storey houses with gardens. These are rural housing relicts: this was once a horticultural area outside the city walls.

at the end of the street, turn left. Here you are back on the quayside of the shipping canal (Kostverloren vaart). Across the canal, a site has been cleared for a new mosque, associated with the conservative Turkish movement Milli Görüs. The project is an endless source of controversy in local politics.

cross the Kinker straat, with tram lines 7 and 17, continue along the canalside. The housing on the opposite side is mainly interwar, first a school building of the 1920's, backing onto the water.

continue along the canal bank, turning onto a side canal.

turn right across the first bridge here, into Pieter Langendijk straat, then turn second left into the Wilhelmina straat. This area is typical late 19th-century housing of reasonable quality.

Most houses have had some form of renovation, in the last 20 years: there is relatively little infill housing. Note the large windows, on many of the ground floors in this street - all former shops. Under the totally different urban density, demographics, and retail practice of 1910, it was economic to have 5 or 10 shops in every street. This huge mass of retail employment was displaced by the supermarkets, in the 1950's and 1960's. Most former shops are now residential: a few are still in commercial use.

at the Jan Pieter Heije straat turn right. This is a typical local shopping street in 19th-century quarters. The side streets are generally similar to the Wilhelmina straat.

All in all, this area is not very gentrified, and not a slum either. It is is not all "white", and not a ghetto either: some students, some immigrant families. But none of the white lower-middle-income families, who were the bulk of the population until about 1960. They left. They got cars, motorways, broad parks, and private gardens. And they pay for them: about one-third of consumer expenditure is related to this lifestyle. This 20th-century transformation in urban life was by far the largest single construction project in human history.

the Jan Pieter Heije straat ends at the Overtoom (route of tram line 1). Cross the road, to the entrance to Overtoom 301, the old Film Academy building. The Academy got a more prestigious building at Waterloo plein, and the buildings were squatted under the name 'ot301'.

In fact, Overtoom 301 is an unofficial broedplaats, an incubator - once meaning a squatted building with cultural activities. In the 1990's, the term was intended to imply cultural diversity, and resistance against a 'yup city'. However it was quickly adopted by the city authorities, as a name for cultural centres in urban 'regeneration' zones. The truth is that art squats are often forerunners of gentrification.

turn right, and go 50 m to nr. 325, and turn into the short Katten laan. The short side streets, between the Overtoom and the Vondelpark, are undergoing gentrification. Some commercial and institutional buildings have been cleared for infill development, like the one you pass here.

go past the tennis courts, into the 19th-century Vondelpark. Inside the park, you are on a long tree-lined avenue: turn right.

near the end of the park, the avenue curves in a semi-circle: turn right here, out of the park through the triple park gates (not the small gate). Cross the Amstelveense weg, former route of tram line 6.

across the road, go straight on to a cycle bridge. Here you cross the Kostverlorenvaart, again. This canal is one of the oldest major landscape elements in the city, along with the Amstel river, the dam, and the sea dike.

go straight on into the Theophile de Bock straat, past a small square with 3-storey houses, Jacob Maris plein. This type of housing is unusual in Amsterdam, although there are comparable areas in Watergraafsmeer (Route 5). The square marks the furthest western expansion of the 19th-century city: on a 1908 map there are fields beyond it.

cross the Haarlemmermeer straat at the traffic lights. The housing here, 4 or 5 storey enclosed blocks, is typical interwar private housing.

50 m after the traffic lights, the cycle path splits at a cycle sign. Continue parallel to Theophile de Bock straat, in the direction Osdorp.

at the next sign, 100 m on, turn right over the bridge, again in the direction Osdorp. Stop on the bridge, and look back at the older housing. The interwar houses stop here: this is a sharp urban edge line representing a stop in expansion. It marks the worldwide Depression, the Second World War, German occupation, and post-war austerity: urban expansion restarted in the 1950's.

immediately after the bridge turn left, again following the direction Osdorp, onto a cycle path running along the water. On the right, a former hospital has been cleared for redevelopment.

after this construction site, turn right, over the cycle bridge with the brown-painted wooden railings, onto the Nachtwacht laan. Turn left after the bridge, under the viaducts of the ring motorway.

go straight on, across the roundabout, into the Schipluiden laan. Then look back to the left, at the 1960's blocks, originally a suburban relocation of the clothing industry. The building has been renovated since, and renamed World Fashion Center. The mono-sectoral function has evolved into a cluster of office employment.

250 m on, there is a cycle sign: turn left here across the road, in the direction Amstelveen / Den Haag. Pass 5 infill apartment blocks, on the right.

at the last block (193-240), go straight on, down the ramp to the waterside, and then toward the metro station entrance (Heemstede straat, on the ring metro line).

at the metro entrance, turn left across the bridge, and then right along the cycle path. You are now on Plesman laan, which carries tram line 2. (Plesman founded KLM, making him a minor national hero).

after the metro station, the urban design is from the 1950's and 1960's. This is Slotervaart, named after the canal beside the road. Together with Slotermeer, Geuzenveld, Osdorp and Overtoomse Veld, it forms the westelijke tuinsteden, the western garden cities - all started in the 1950's. Together they house about 130 000 people. The area was 'new and modern' in about 1965, but by now it seems an architectural museum.

A mass demolition programme is underway in the western post-war suburbs, under the name Parkstad, 'park city'. The openly stated goal, apparently a new trend in European urban planning, is to force low-income families out of the area - and preferably out of Amsterdam. In 2004 the Balkenende government introduced legislation, specifically excluding the poor from designated urban areas.

pass left a medical complex, including a hospital, the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the national blood transfusion laboratory Sanquin.

after the medical complex, you leave the the built-up area, as it was in 1985. The next houses on the left are untypical, because this was an agricultural area (greenhouses). Some related retail activities still continue (garden centres). Behind these houses new housing is visible, a 1990's urban extension of Amsterdam, Nieuw Sloten.

pass left Ottenhof (garden plants, a relict of the former land use). At the next roundabout, turn left into the housing development, under the 9-storey apartment block - follow the signs for Oeverlanden.

follow the cycle path through a wedge of open space. Although there are apartment blocks here, most housing in Nieuw Sloten consists of two-storey row houses. They are typical of recent urban-edge housing, the VINEX locations.

Nieuw Sloten itself was was first planned around 1985 - it would have been the Olympic Village in Amsterdam's failed bid for the 1992 Olympics. VINEX is an abbreviation for the revised 4th national spatial plan. This 1990's policy attempted to "limit urban dispersal" by concentrating hundreds of thousands of people, in large new developments at the edge of existing cities. Instead they made low-rise, low-density suburban housing the norm, and things got worse. After pressure from neoliberal economists and the developers lobby, the Balkenende government abandoned most planning controls in May 2004. The new national spatial policy - not a 'national plan' - allows developers to build housing almost anywhere in the country. Inevitably, low-density sprawl will soon be the standard form of development.

the cycle path continues towards the Slotertoren, the highest block in Nieuw Sloten, and crosses tram line 2.

The tram is largely symbolic: in reality the car is the standard transport mode. Here the tram is on reserved track of high quality: but further on into the city centre it runs on single track shared with two other lines, in the crowded Leidsestraat. And the city centre is not the employment destination for residents of VINEX locations anyway.

continue past the shops. Go straight on, cross at the traffic lights, and continue along the cycle path in the direction Oeverlanden.

go to the right at the next roundabout, follow the cycle sign for Sloten, onto the Sloter weg. (The 8 m brick sculpture here, is apparently intended as a windmill, not a rabbit). Until the early 20th century, this was a road through open grassland, to a small agricultural village.

cycle straight on, into the historical core of the village of Sloten. The first village church is not very old (1900) : Dutch Catholics built many new churches after their 19th-century social emancipation, see the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia.

at nr. 1204 go into the alley, to look at a surviving boundary marker of the city of Amsterdam: TERMINUS PROSCRIPTIONIS.

Located here because it was one German mile (7,4 km) from the city gate, it marked the limit of city jurisdiction, as fixed in late-mediaeval times. (The Sloten road was a main route to the city at that time). Those sentenced to exile faced execution, if they crossed this point, back into the city.

continue along the village street, with its two-storey rural houses. At nr 1253, turn right toward the older church, across Dorpsplein, the old village square. A sign explains that it is built on the site of a mediaeval terp - a raised mound. A terp (plural terpen) was the only flood defence, before dike construction began around 1200. The circular graveyard around the church is still visibly raised: go around it anti-clockwise, to the right.

when you reach the church door, turn right into the Nieuwe Aker weg, then left into the Akerpolder straat. The first building here still has the sign above the door indicating its original function: Wees- en Armenhuis (Orphanage and Poor-house).

back at the village street, turn right to continue: here too some farm buildings survive. 200 m on, the old settlement ends: pass a car-wash on the right. However, ahead there is still a windmill.

cycle on and cross the main road to the windmill, a water pumping mill from 1847. It is the only one in the region open daily, heavily restored, and it is primarily a tourist attraction. The sign attempts to associate it with Rembrandt. Indeed he was the son of a miller, and he sketched in the area. That does not mean he lived in this windmill, but if you have come all the way from Osaka or Minneapolis, why quibble about details?

this is the end of this urban route. To return, follow the main road here, back toward Centrum. It brings you back to Plesman laan: from there, simply follow tram line 2 all the way back to the centre.