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Amsterdam's Charming, Historic Jordaan
Judith Bell Turner-Yamamoto
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thc testing facts Once a district for the poor, today Amsterdam's Jordaan is a favorite place for students, artists and young professionals. (Courtesy of Jordaan INFO)
Developed in the beginning of the seventeenth century as a humble industrial quarter to house the waves of immigrants crowding into prosperous Amsterdam, the Jordaan today is home to some thousand small businesses. Located in the area at the west side of the grachtengordel (main canals), the district's borders are formed by the Lijnbaansgracht, Brouwersgracht, Prinsengracht and the Passeerdersgracht. Within walking distance of the Central Station, the Dam and Leidseplein, the two-square mile area has also become one of the city’s most desirable residential areas.
Like New York’s Tribeca, or Washington’s Adams Morgan, Amsterdam’s Jordaan is home to artists, students and young professionals attracted to the availability of converted warehouses that once served the area’s tradesmen. With the exception of the Anne Frank House, there aren't any major sights to see here, but it is the Jordaan area itself which is remarkable: easygoing and peaceful, with lots of bars, restaurants and interesting little shops. The Noordermarkt hosts a daily flea market, joined on Saturday mornings by alternative farmers selling their produce out of the back of their cars. For visitors, the quarter offers not only escape from the crowds of tourists that throng to the night life in Leidensplein or the museums and galleries in Museumplein, but an opportunity to indulge in the pleasures of authentic Dutch urban life. After several visits to Amsterdam during which we felt obliged to explore the city’s more well-known sites, last summer we decided to narrow our focus and indulge in a concentrated dose of the Jordaan’s charms.
This jumble of tightly packed houses and network of narrow streets and alleys had its origins in a zig-zag series of polders and ditches dug in the mid-1600s. Because the street pattern was based on these older ditches and paths, the layout of the Jordaan is at odds with the rest of the old city center where streets and canals align with the grachtengordel, the city’s three main canals--Heren, Keizers and Prinsengracht. As the city’s stylish area evolved along these main waterways, noisy and sometimes malodorous workshops were no longer tolerated. Along with the poor, industry was relegated to the marshy area beyond the central ring of canals. The Jordaan, firstly called het nieuwe Werck (the new work), was planned at the west side of the grachtengordel.
Famous “Jordanees,” as residents are known, have included the French philosopher Rene Descartes, who moved to the Netherlands in 1628. Rembrandt moved here in 1660 with his mistress when bankruptcy forced him to give up his fashionable residence in the city’s center (now the Rembrandt Museum). His rented house at Rozengracht 184 became the site of an art and antiques shop run by the family. Rembrandt’s studio was in the rear and he gave lessons in a studio on the nearly situated Bloemgracht. Today the gable stone in the front of the current house reminds passersby of his ties to the Jordaan.
The origin of the district’s name remains unclear. Popular theory holds that it is a corruption of the French word jardin (garden). After the abolition of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Amsterdam became a refuge for Protestant French Huguenots fleeing persecution in their Catholic homeland. Many of these immigrants found shelter in the area that became known as the Jordaan. Most of the canals bear the names of flowers, for example, Laurierrgracht (laurel canal) and Rozengracht (roses canal). Historian Kannegieter is convinced the name comes from the Jordanne in the Auvergne, a polluted river the French immigrants associated with the Prinsengracht, which was a polluted waterway during the period of their arrival to Amsterdam.
By 1890, 85,000 people inhabited this area--four times the present population. Then as now, more than 90 percent of the 11,000 apartments had no more than three rooms. By the beginning of century, the Jordaan had become a slum. Refurbishment began after World War II when more than 800 buildings were first listed as being of architectural interest. Seven of the original canals were filled in.
Rebirth began in earnest in the 1960s when artists and young people began to flock to this picturesque quarter. In the 1970s, private developers acted faster than the city, buying up many of the area’s historic and industrial buildings, converting them into high-end apartments and studios. The restored housing led to rising real estate prices and the exodus of original inhabitants to the suburbs. Subsidized housing designed to blend in with the old environment allowed many residents to remain.
Before renovation the neighborhood had many narrow alleys named for the occupations of their original inhabitants. While many of the alleys have disappeared, some of the streets retain names reflecting trades of the craftsmen who re-settled here. For example, Tichelstraat (brick street), the Bloemstraat (flower street) and Raamstraat (windows street), where weavers and painters stretched their painted pieces of cloth on a window and put them outside the city wall for drying. The leather business was concentrated around the Elandsgracht and Looiersgracht. Potters were found in the Anjeliersgracht (now Westerstraat), and Tichelstraat.
Walking through the twisting streets of the Jordaan is still a confusing business. It’s best to toss aside maps that can only lead to frustration when streets change names almost every block, and simply give yourself over to exploration and discovery. Parking has been banned on many of the streets, making strolling through the Jordaan more comfortable than it is in other parts of the city.
Shops in Holland, and in particular in Amsterdam, take seriously the question of ambiance, making this one of the most enjoyable European cities in which to shop. Goods are beautifully and imaginatively displayed. The care lavished on window dressing borders on high art. We found the boutiques in the Jordaan to be no exception. Shopkeepers’ hours however, were somewhat capricious. We returned in vain to Bruno de Vries bij Antiek Brocante, an antique store on Elandsgracht featuring an outstanding collection of Art Deco objects, to marvel at the columned black marble mantle clock with its nude statuette displayed in the window; and to a button store on Wolvenstraat where wooden cabinets with glass doors revealed buttons of every imaginable shape and color.
Thony Monpellier, proprietor of Exel Bijoux (Elandsgracht 87), a costume jewelry boutique, firstd in 1997 in the oldest part of the Jordaan and recently relocated to the busier main street. Inside the shop painted in delicate shades of yellow and blue, clever displays for an impressive collection of necklaces, bracelets and rings included a blue velvet trapeze suspended from the ceiling by yellow ribbons, mannequins and classical pedestals.
Antique stores abound in the Jordaan with distinct areas of specialization. We found shops that carried only English and Dutch pine; others focused on Oriental porcelain, or lamps and lighting fixtures. A pervasive fascination with rustic Italy has apparently hit Holland. In addition to a number of new restaurants offering stylish northern Italian cuisine, there are several shops in the Jordaan that specialize in rustic Italian furnishings, contemporary reproductions as well as antiques that would be at home in the most aged country villa.
Cortina Papier (Reestraat 22) offers paper products of every description. Within the tiny shop are handmade albums and blank journals of every size crafted from unusual handmade papers, exquisite cards and stationary, fountain pens, and inks of every color imaginable. Bed en Bad (Wonen 2000) carries a wide collection of handsome linens and whimsical bed and bath accessories. The back of the store offers a rare view into a private side of Dutch life seldom seen from the street. A wall of glass doors onto a small enclosed garden. The ivy-covered brick walls and maximized use of limited space is typical of home gardens found throughout Amsterdam.
House numbers were first instituted during the Napoleonic era. Prior to this, gable stones, with their pictorial description of the inhabitants’ trade or occupation, were the only way to distinguish residences. We noted gable stones indicating the residences of millers, brewers and clothiers. Bloemgracht, one of the most popular streets in the Jordaan, became known as the gentleman’s canal of the Jordaan. Nasturtiums and begonias cascade from window boxes down the facades of gabled houses; sunflowers twist up lampposts. Architectural standouts on this street are nos. 87-91, where elaborate stepped gables define the façades. The houses now belong to a foundation that preserves the work of the buildings’ architect Hendrick de Keyser.
On Westermarkt, at the border of the Jordaaan, the 85-meter tower of Westerkerk (West Church) looms above the city. Built in 1630 in the new Dutch classical style, Westerkerk was Rembrandt’s parish church, as well as his burial place, and that of his son Titus and his wife. The tower isto visitors in the summer months, and offers a spectacular view of Amsterdam.
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A canal at the corner of Prinsengracht and Bloemgracht, in Jordaan. (Photo by Jonik)
Click image to enlarge.
Nearby is the Anne Frank House, the hiding place where Frank wrote her well-known diary during the second world war. In 1942, Otto Frank and his family went hiding in a back room of his office building. Just before the end of the war, the hiding place was discovered and the family was moved to labor camps. Anne Frank did not survive, but her father Otto did. From the moment he published the diary, it became an enormous and enduring success. Now the house serves as a museum, where the original diary is part of the permanent exhibition, and has become one of Amsterdam’s strongest tourist attractions, drawing audiences from all over the world.
Visitors will invariably discover their favorite street. Ours was Elandsgracht with its mix of auction houses, junk stores, antique shops and ethnic restaurants. Elandsgracht 109 and Looiersgracht are two indoor antique markets (daily except Sunday) that draw regulars and tourists alike. In the various dealers’ stalls were antique porcelain bath fixtures, tin toys from the turn of the century, Delft tiles, as well as an assortment of sturdy Dutch furniture crafted from mahogany and oak.
Rakang Thai (Elandsgracht 29) serves dinner daily in an interior that combines Thai tradition and post-modern influences, with cane chairs wrapped in white cloth, paneled walls with modern lighting and designer china, and each course served on a different plate. Its tiny “take away” storefront next door offers many of the same delicacies found throughout the day found on the dinner menu. We discovered the carryout counter our first night in Amsterdam: jet lagged, we opted to eat early. The portions were generous and the yellow curry and pad Thai noodles were seasoned with care in light-textured sauces with plenty of fragrance and flavor.
Across the street at the bustling Palladio, a young urban crowd packed the narrow restaurant where columns and stucco walls evoke Tuscany. Tables spilled onto the sidewalk through thefront of the restaurant. Bottles of virgin olive oil, a terra cotta saucer and a full loaf of black olive bread awaited us at our table near the antipasto case. We chose grilled eggplant, salmon ravioli in hazelnut sauce, and spaghetti with mussels from the handwritten menu.
Our last night in Amsterdam, we returned to Rakang for dinner, this time electing to eat in the jewel-like dining room, where lavender walls and sorbet-colored silk fabrics offered a visually cooling counterpart to the menu’s pleasing palette of incendiary tastes. We dined on crispy fish with chili sauce, rice noodles with spicy chicken, and complemented our meal with a delicate sampling of coconut, mango and kiwi sorbets.
We strolled down Elandsgracht, visiting our favorite store windows one last time. The auction house was the bidding on a sale we had previewed earlier in the week was in full swing. In the crowd that jammed the doorway, I recognized a few faces from our repeated ramblings through the neighborhood. We paused for a moment, observing, listening to the now familiar cadence of Dutch that surrounded us before wandering off to enjoy our last cup of coffee in the Jordaan. I thought of the words Descartes (who lived in the Jordaan on Westermarkt), wrote to a friend soon after his arrival in Amsterdam: “What other place in the world could you choose where all of life’s comforts, and all the novelties that a man could want are so easy to obtain as here and where you can enjoy such a feeling of freedom…”
To read other articles by Judith Bell Turner-Yamamoto, visit The World & I eLibrary archives:
--"Wondrous Treasures Abound in Istanbul," October 2006 (Article #25201)
--"When Art Was Golden: Dutch Arts of the 1600s," December 2000 (Article #22042)
--"The New American Garden," July 1994 (Article #11969)
Judith Bell Turner-Yamamoto is an art historian, features
writer and novelist based in Arlington, Virginia.
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