The social-housing showpiece of 1920s Amsterdam, in the streets south of De Pijp that Berlage planned in 1915 and the Amsterdam School architects built: rounded brick corners, sculpted workers over the doorways, a reading room with a bell tower, and De Klerk and Kramer's wave-roofed De Dageraad, ending at Jan Staal's 46-metre Wolkenkrabber. Residents still live in every block, so look from the street and keep quiet in the courtyards.
Best time: Thursday to Sunday afternoon, when Museum De Dageraad is open (13:00-17:00; tours 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30, the last in English)
The route, stop by stop
- 1Henrick de Keijserplein
Start on the square named after Hendrick de Keyser, the stonemason-architect who came to Amsterdam in 1595 and designed the Westerkerk; his early-17th-century work defined the 'Amsterdam Renaissance'. Walk along Lutmastraat and turn right into Burgemeester Tellegenstraat: look for the projecting windows at numbers 66, 68 and 70. 5 min.
- 2Coöperatiehof
Go back a few steps and through the gatehouse. This 1927 complex joined three blocks of workers' flats around a court. Above the entrance of the former public reading room (open until the 1980s) a gable stone shows books, trees and a snake; the tall bell tower stood for the 'intellectual elevation' of the working class. 10 min.
- 3Thérèse Schwartzeplein
Via Willem Pastoorstraat (undulating facades, many small windows) and Thérèse Schwartzestraat. The four buildings around this square date from 1919-1922: each holds six two-storey homes linked by a balcony, with trapezoid roofs that made room for an attic bedroom. On the corner of number 1, a 1930 sandstone relief shows the harvest: four figures and a rooster on a sheaf of grain. 10 min.
- 4Berlage Lyceum, Pieter Lodewijk Takstraat
Via Paletstraat and Jozef Israëlskade. Two sculptures on this wing, a pregnant woman with a bunch of grapes and a muscular man, stand for trade and industry and the trade school that was once here. The street is named after Pieter Lodewijk Tak, the socialist journalist who founded the housing association De Dageraad. 5 min.
- 5Museum De Dageraad
Burgemeester Tellegenstraat 128, at the end of the street between the two big De Dageraad blocks. Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer designed everything here, street facades, rear facades and floor plans: three colours of brick, asymmetric windows, turrets and a chimney like a steamship on a wave-shaped roof. A memorial stone on the right-hand corner house honours De Klerk and Kramer; the left tower carries a text for Tak. The complex opened in July 1922. The small museum (part of Museum Het Schip) explains Plan Zuid; Thu-Sun 13:00-17:00, guided tour included with the ticket. 45 min.
- 6Victorieplein and the Wolkenkrabber
Via Burgemeester Tellegenstraat, Mauvestraat and Carillonstraat to Van Woustraat (across the bridge, a 1922 house by G.J. Rutgers with round roof towers), then Rijnstraat with its turrets and rounded brick corners. The square was renamed after the Allied victory of 1945 (it was named after the poet Daniël Willink). Finish at the Wolkenkrabber, Amsterdam's first 'skyscraper', 46 metres, by Jan Staal. The statue in the middle of the square is H.P. Berlage, whose 1915 plan laid out this whole district (1966, per OpenStreetMap). 15 min.
More walks in Amsterdam
- Old centre: Centraal, the Wallen and Dam to the Begijnhof
- De Pijp food-grazing walk: market, broodje pom and bakeries
- Canal ring and Jordaan: Anne Frank to the Nine Streets
- Jewish Quarter and Plantage to the windmill brewery
- Across the IJ: free ferries to Eye, Noord and NDSM
- Jordaan brown-cafe crawl
- Oost: Oosterpark, the Dappermarkt and the Javastraat to Flevopark
- Noord by bike: the Waterland dyke from Nieuwendam to Schellingwoude and Durgerdam
- Western Islands and the Spaarndammerbuurt: herring wharves to Het Schip