This narrow town house tells the story of time and transformation. It was built around 1650 as a three storey split level house with shopfront and, after undergoing minor changes, was radically upgraded to a five storey tenement house in 1909, keeping the original structure. It was given a new Art Nouveau inspired facade, rather uncommon for the inner city of Amsterdam. It now occupied nearly the full 4x15 meter plot, leaving open only a tiny courtyard. The renovation plan for the exterior focusses on the restoration of the details and color scheme of pale yellow and dark green glazed bricks.
The approach for the interior was to create contemporary spaces in line with the ideas of modern living, while at the same time incorporating original details from different time periods, which were mostly covered up in a 1980’s renovation. The ceilings were stripped and the uncovered 17th century and 19th century bearing structure remains in sight. On the first floor, the open space catches daylight from two sides, sending it down through the open slatted platform in the heart of the house.
To make the most of available light the layout of little rooms and hallways was replaced by flexible spaces, with a minimum of separating walls and doors. The opening to the tiny courtyard was enlarged to bring light into the ground floor kitchen area. A 1970's spiral stair, found inside, was refurbished and placed in a central position of the house.
project - Town House
program - apartment with patio 90m²
location - Amsterdam
status - completed 2017
client - private
photography - Jakub Hrab
historic photograph - Amsterdam municipal archive