The housing known today as De Dageraad was built between 1919 – 1921 and had its origins in the Dutch cooperative and socialist movements. Towards the end of the 19th century the working class grew in size and included workers in an ever increasing number of industries, trades and services.
The development of mass production from around 1880 onwards was accompanied by the emergence of mass trade unions and mass socialist parties across the industrialising world.
And yet everywhere that capital was expanding, workers’ rights were restricted, the franchise limited and independent political activity proscribed. In the Netherlands, the cooperative movement was one particular attempt at self-organisation.
De Dageraad started as a consumer cooperative in the early 1900s. Those initially involved included the social democrat Floor Wibaut, the journalist PL Tak, the revolutionary Marxist and poet Herman Gorter and the leader of the Diamond Workers’ Union, Henri Polak. From its inception, De Dageraad brought various parts of the workers and socialist movement together.
De Dageraad as a consumer cooperative claimed considerable success. A report in 1919, produced by the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (SDAP, Social Democratic Workers’ Party), outlined the achievements of De Dageraad across North Holland; four bakeries, ‘a sanitary milk establishment’, a clothing warehouse and 38 shops, including two department stores.
The relative success of the consumer cooperative, and the election of Floor Wibaut as the Alderman for Housing on Amsterdam city council in 1914, started to encourage ideas about a housing cooperative. The Dutch Housing Act, the Woningwet of 1901 made explicit provision for housing cooperatives, housing associations and charitable organisations to work with local authorities, architects and building firms to build housing.
In Amsterdam, Plan Zuid was developed by the architect and planner HP Berlage and adopted in 1917. More than 13 km² of land was identified in an area bounded by the Amstel river to the east and the Schinkel river to the west. This was mapped out for extensive house building, supported with schools, shops, services and a new street plan.
Land use, house building, rents, mortgages and loans are always formed and surrounded by class interests and therefore become political. The development of Plan Zuid was no exception.
Those pushing the class interests of capital wanted the housing to be built cheaply; minimum standards, plain design, little embellishment and the most cut-price materials.
The opposition was the class interests of the workers. These interests were formally represented by the SDAP, the trade unions, the cooperative movement, and interestingly, a large number of architects, planners and designers.
The SDAP in the Netherlands believed good housing would be of great benefit to the Dutch workers, and that improving the conditions of the workers was something that socialism should instinctively fight for. It would directly benefit the working class and help to build the socialist movement. The revolution was a vague future event; but isn’t it always?
Reform or Revolution? This debate had been ongoing since the foundation of the Second International in 1889. Should socialists stand in municipal and parliamentary elections and work for reforms? Could the state apparatus that protected the interests of capital be taken over in the interests of labour or would it need to be destroyed?
It was in this context that the De Dageraad consumer cooperative developed its own housing cooperative.
Not all housing associations and cooperatives had left leanings; some were formed by senior civil servants, some were Catholic (Het Oosten) or Protestant (Patrimonium) or Jewish (Handwerkers Vriendenkring). The socialists had competition. It would never do if the housing intended for those workers influenced by religion was better than the housing being proposed by the socialists.
For an organisation such as De Dageraad to build housing, a number of steps had to be followed. Firstly, De Dageraad had to be constituted as an organisation that was legally recognised. A board was created, committees, governance structures, policies, memorandum of operation and so on.
The notarised organisation was then able to liaise with the Amsterdam city council for a parcel of land to build on. In general, loans were available to housing associations and housing cooperatives at low rates of interest. This enabled organisations such as De Dageraad to begin building without having to raise capital in financial markets.
The council generally retained the freehold of the land enabling any rise in value to accrue to the council over time.
When Amsterdam city council is mentioned, it should be noted that between 1915 to 1939 the SDAP was the largest political group. Although it was without an overall majority it was a powerful political force.
Decisions about land use, freehold, leasehold, funding and even the aesthetics of the housing and planning were made with official SDAP involvement. Debates about reform and revolution were not abstract; the SDAP was ‘within the system’ and could point to considerable success.
Over 60,000 homes were built in Amsterdam in this period of which nearly half were public housing. This was accompanied by the building of schools, community facilities, clinics, libraries and more. A large mass of this building is still extant and in use today.
The granting of loans enabled the council to retain control of the development of Plan Zuid and to enforce the implementation of building codes and regulations, hygiene standards, build quality and the aesthetics at the level of the block and the overall city-scape.
All organisations that made bids for land were strongly encouraged to work with architects to help move through the planning process and to meet the quality and design specifications.
De Dageraad was no exception and chose the powerful partnership of Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer. They were close friends who had first met at the studio of the architect Eduard Cuypers. There is an anecdote that Cuypers visited a school where he noticed the skill of the 14 year old de Klerk in drawing. He then offered him a job.
De Klerk and Kramer were both central figures in what became known as the Amsterdam School.
The Amsterdam School developed in the city in the early part of the 20th century. There was never a dogmatic manifesto. Ideas were shared through the organisation Architectura et Amicitia and the journal Wendingen and many informal networks. The lack of a rigid set of rules enabled a style to emerge which was able to absorb a many influences and therefore became dynamic and eclectic.
What bound the architects, planners and designers of the Amsterdam School together was that many were influenced by socialism and were active in the socialist movement; many others, while not being fellow travellers of particular parties, were socially committed.
Within the Amsterdam School there was a shared belief in the provision of good quality, well designed housing for all workers, in the social importance of architecture, the role of the architect in service to society, the cultural value of housing, and the importance of art and aesthetics.
Design characteristics of the school included the use of brick for building and decoration, the use of concrete for strength and sculpture, the use of solid wooden doors and window frames for comfort and security, red tiled roofs with wavy patterns, abundant space both within and without, perimeter blocks which surrounded large communal gardens, the provision of shops, schools, kindergartens, play areas, libraries and a range of services.
There was a totality of design which include furniture and interior design, but the approach was to encourage the accidental and spontaneous, allowing montages and collages to be self-assembled.
There was a wide range of influences; Arts and Crafts and William Morris, the garden city movement, Art Nouveau, Scandinavian design, Dutch vernacular styles, the Viennese Secession and the modernism that was emerging in Germany.
One aspect of De Dageraad that continues to fascinate is that it brings so much of this together. Several flavours of socialism, the influence of the cooperative movement, the strength of the trade union movement and the design serendipity of the Amsterdam School.
Is this what makes it such an engaging place? This history alone powers up some strong stuff for the imagination to work with.
What follows is a tour which you can follow here in words and pictures; or if you have the chance, visit in person and immerse yourself directly in the politics and design of an earlier age which still have great relevance today.
The main area of De Dageraad is the housing on Burgemeester Tellegenstraat, Talmastraat, Willem Passtoorsstraat, PL Takstraat, Henriëtte Ronnerplein and Thérèse Schwartzeplein. It is a distinctive area of its own and yet blends effortlessly into the surrounding streets, squares and canals.
The Cooperative Hof and the schools on Josef Israëlkade have also been included as it helps to locate De Dageraad in a wider context.
Let’s start outside the Berlage Lyceum on Josef Israëlkade and work our way into the estate from there.
The buildings on either side of PL Takstraat were originally two separate schools. The 1e Hogere Burger School which was constructed between 1921 – 1924 and the 2e Openbare Handelsschool , completed in 1923. Both were built by the Amsterdam Department of Public Works to designs by the municipal architect Arend Jan Westerman.
If you’re standing in front of them, with your back to the canal (the Amstel Canal) then the one on the left is the 2e Openbare Handelsschool and the one on the right is the 1e Hogere Burger School.
They both have a generous solid mass; a suggestion of the power of learning. They are almost industrial but in the sense of applied labour, rather than something impersonal and of dark satanic mills.
They are both full of light, and of light, suggesting that humanity progresses through knowledge, science, understanding and working in cooperation with nature. Ideas, theory, art seem to shine from the windows, which sometimes become so bright that the excitement must be contained through self-discipline and collective organisation.
Do tarry for a while and enjoy the bold and enigmatic statutes by Hildo Krop. They include Menselijke Energie (Human Energy) and De Geboorte van de Daad (The Birth of the Deed).
Together, the schools create a compelling social statement at the entrance to PL Takstraat. 1
The housing in Takstraat is by Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer. They worked closely together and their ideas and style are thoughtfully intertwined. This housing is credited to De Klerk but Kramer is here too.
Somehow they manage to embrace the Dutch vernacular, squeeze it tightly with affection and then throw it up into the air to embrace the new freedom of the socialist future. They catch the building as it returns to earth and marry it to the earth with strong foundations.
There is a lot of open space here and the tree planting provides shade and shadow patterns for the housing.
This space might just have become a void but it is broken up at ground level by what Christopher Alexander has described as a ‘sitting wall’. 2
Walls are perfect street furniture; indestructible, free and easy places to sit and linger, an infrastructure for children to run across the top of and jump up and down from.
Every time I visited De Dageraad there was something going on around these walls. Even if it was just someone sitting and watching their dog amuse itself; but at times, is that not enough?
Keep walking along Takstraat until you arrive at the space at the end of the street. In front of you is the memorial to Jan William Cornelis Tellegen.
Tellegen was the Director of Building and Housing Inspectorate at the city council between 1901 to 1915, at which point he became the mayor until his death in 1921.3
The stone portrait in the monument is by Christiaan ‘Chris’ Johannes van der Hof.
Attached to the wall above are four heads by the artist Driekus Jansen van Galen which represent trust, consideration, justice, tact. 4
Now turn around and take a look at the buildings in front of you. The highly unusual and yet impressive corner blocks are considered to be the work of Kramer. They never seem to be still and always on the point of emerging into something else, something mysterious and wonderful bubbling up in brick.
There is a brick statue of a rooster, used by De Dageraad as a symbol to represent the dawning of the new day of socialism.
There is also a brick statue of a thick set stocky man. There is some speculation about who or what this might be. Could it be Wibaut?
There is a small museum in one of the blocks which is also the meeting place for regular walking tours.
Burgemeester Tellegenstraat was originally called Coöperatiestraat but the name was changed in 1927 to honour the former mayor Tellegen. I am not a fan of this type of stuff and would rather any future socialist society, should that ever occur, desisted from Lenin Avenue, Karl Marx Plaza and the Leon Trotsky Arcade.
The building heights here are slightly lower than much of the housing in Plan Zuid. For some reason Amsterdam city council stipulated that the height of the housing here could only be three stories. Was this to reduce the density of socialists?
Continue to walk along Burgemeester Tellegen in an easterly direction. If you don’t have a compass then stand with De Dageraad in front of you and the Tellegen memorial behind you. Now turn left.
Look out for the entrance to Cooperative Hof which is an entrance way on your left hand side once you have turned the corner.
The Coöperatiehof was designed by De Klerk and Kramer and built for the De Dageraad housing cooperative and the Vereeniging Bouwmaatschappij tot Verkrijging van Eigen Woningen (the Association Building Company for the Acquisition of Own Homes).
The pretty oval garden in the centre contains a globe-shaped sculpture completed in 1936 to a design by Kramer. 5
The ambiance of the Coöperatiehof is of a garden village, right in the middle of this great big city. In 1924, Ebenezer Howard, who single handedly seemed to have invented the garden city movement, was given a tour of Plan Zuid. I wonder if this was included and what he thought of it?
On one side of the garden is the former reading room and meeting hall. Take note of the stone tablet above the door. It includes the key to learning and ‘… a snake wrapped around a tree evokes the tree of knowledge and good and evil’. 6
The clock tower contains a bell which was apparently rung every half an hour to remind the workers to read books. How true this is I have no idea; nor is there any record of what the workers themselves might have thought about this.
It feels very Sunday School and reflects the Puritanical rather than rebellious history of the Dutch people. I enjoy reading and researching but to be honest would find a regular bell a bit of a nuisance.
Now come through the arch which is directly opposite to where you came in. Back to another part of Burgemeester Tellegen but now in the western part of the development. Walk into Willem Passtoorsstraat (directly opposite) and turn left into Thérèse Schwartzestraat.
Thérèse Schwartze was a painter, mainly of portraits of the well to do. She is considered one of the greatest women Dutch artists of the 19th century.
The street and square were originally just going to be called ‘Schwarze’ but her niece Lizzy Ansingh, also a painter, lobbied that ‘Thérèse’ be included to make it clear that the naming was after a woman.
`I prefer this sort of symbolism because it contains real politics, rather than tokenism or adulation.
Continue walking along this street you will enter Thérèse Schwartzeplein.
All of this was new to me and I still vividly remember the pleasure of discovering it on a hot, sunny afternoon. It was so verdant and cool, a bridge into a forest land. It’s obviously a well used place by local people, who leave their own chairs and recliners and toys scattered here and there. It was one of those occasions when one is suddenly conscious of being alive. What a magical space to create within the city walls.
Now continue into Paletstraat and back to Josef Israëlkade. Enjoy once again the Hildo Krop sculptures. Do they look different now you’ve seen the context of De Dageraad? The Amstel canal is on your right hand side and it’s a good place to sit and have a break.
When you re-commence your explorations, turn left into Penseelstraat and then into Henriëtte Ronnerplein. The design is in symmetry with Thérèse Schwartzeplein but avoids any sense of repetition. The Amsterdam School architects were artful at creating subtle changes of view and perspective that generate multiple dimensions in the street scape.
The housing here is reminiscent of the agricultural buildings of the Dutch countryside, perhaps out in the Waterland where the seemingly flatness of the landscape, the canals, ditches and rivers still hold their secrets of peasant rebellions, great religious schisms, iconoclasm, Sea Beggars and citizen militias.
There is so much going on here without it ever becoming busy. The colour palette of the buildings contain three colours and look how effectively they are used; to create shapes, suggestions and movement.
It may be a simple effect to use a darker brick in the corner (topped off with an octagonal turrent) and add a Renaissance-style roof of terracotta tiles but consider the dynamic impact. It is a wonderful expression of individual elements united into a harmonious whole.
And surely a key signifier that this is an actual lived in space is the way in which the chairs, table, bench, children’s toys and plant pots are sprinkled in a way that suits the residents.
Continue around the square and turn left into Henriette Ronnerstraat.
The street is named after Henriette Ronner who was also a Dutch painter in the 19th century. Her speciality was cats.
Note the bust of Floor Wibaut on the corner of the block at Henriette Ronnerplein and Henriette Ronnerstraat.
This is the same Floor Wibaut that we met at the start of this story. The socialist who helped push through this grand plan for housing. He was known in Amsterdam as Die Machtige Wibaut – the mighty Wibaut. It takes some character to penetrate into layer upon layer of the working class and become a popular figure.
Indeed Wibaut was so popular that the social democrats used a pun on his name as a slogan for political campaigns, ‘Wie Baut? Wibaut!’ – (Who builds? Wibaut!)
At the end of Henriette Ronnerstraat turn right into Talmastraat and walk along to Mauvestraat and then turn right into Lutmastraat. This will take you to the lively main road, Van Woustraat.
There are shops, cafes, bars, bakers, an excellent wine shop and trams that will take you to where ever you need to go; in time and space into the past and towards the future.
- On the wall of the 1e Hogere Burger School is a memorial plaque to Pieter Lodewijk Tak who was one of the original founders of De Dageraad. Tak was a journalist who had been the chief editor of the magazine De Kroniek (The Chronicle) and the social democrat daily newspaper Het Volk. He was a socialist municipal councillor for many years and chair of the SDAP. ↩︎
- Pattern 243: Sitting Wall, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction – Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel, Oxford University Press, 1977 p 1124 ). ↩︎
- The inscription translates roughly as:
“Mayor Tellegen 1859–1921. Founded in the year 1924 by the Amsterdam Housing Associations. In gratitude for the Work performed in the interest of Public Housing.” ↩︎ - De Dageraad, Museum Het Schip, p 134 – 136 Amsterdam, 2018) ↩︎
- It commemorates L.van Buuren, involved in the development of social housing in the city, and contains an inscription to the city as a whole; Amsterd. pionier v. Volkshuisvesting – ‘Amsterdam pioneer of public housing’. I was hoping for something a bit more inspirational. ↩︎
- Amsterdam and the “Droom in Baksteen” Urban Rambles in the Mecca of Social Housing Giuseppe Giolitti p159 ~ this book is an excellent way to explore the housing of Amsterdam ↩︎
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