Emblematic Amsterdam: the Beauty of the Building Façades
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One of the emblematic image of Amsterdam is a row of house façades. The narrow houses, squeezed together along the canals, with their brick walls and tall windows, with ornate, lacy tops, tell the story of the old city, when people decided they needed to create something like a presentation card for their family or their business, and that was the house facade. If you want to read an extensive presentation of the canal house gables, check out this article by Amsterdam for Visitors. So interesting!
This type of architecture was used not only in Amsterdam, but throughout the country, and you will find similarities and also unique features in every city in the Netherlands. Here is a gallery of façades from various Dutch cities and villages:
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I write on New York City’s social- and architectural history (you might know one of the three editions of “New York From the Air” that I did with the great French aerial photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand), and I taught the subject part time at New York University, where I was an adjunct associate professor.I am doing some basic research on anachronistic buildings in New York City and their roots, and I am hoping that you could identify the fourth building in the selection of photographs above. When enlarged, a crest with what looks like a lion appears, and in the far right the letters (AN), which might be the beginning of “year” in Latin, since below it is “16.”
I look forward to hearing from you.
With my thanks,
John
Hi John. You can see that building better in the third photo. It’s a building in Hoorn, the Netherlands, that is called Statenpoort: https://www.hoornechtmooi.nl/locatie/statenpoort