July 21: Amsterdam – Het Schip 1

Why were we trekking so far out from the center? Het Schip is why. This housing block is the most famous exemplar of the Amsterdam School style, designed by Michel de Klerk and completed in 1919. It contained about a hundred apartments, plus a post office and meeting hall. I think it's still apartments, but it's also a museum about the Amsterdam School.

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The whole building is inspiringly inventive. Here at the southeast end, a whole menagerie of brick volumes and windows.

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WHO'S a finest kind! You are! Yes you are! (Richard seems less than impressed.)

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The south corner. The post office is on the ground floor at this end.

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Looking up the southwest side along Zaanstraat.

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A train on the tracks adjacent — but I forget whether it was passing by or was just parked there.

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At the west corner is this marvelously bulbous oriel. (I'm not sure "oriel" is quite the right term here, but it's all I can think of.)

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Meanwhile, the center of the northwest face is a concave V in plan and is dominated by this exotic-looking tower.

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In numerous places are massively solid balconies.

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There are also adorable tiny windows.

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A totally sweet entrance to a group of apartments.

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The northeast side along Oostdaamstraat. Cool clerestories bro.

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These curves almost seem to foreshadow Aalto's forms. Also: more adorable windows.

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Are those chimneys? I can't tell because they're so tiny!

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A look up Oostdaamstraat; all the way to the right appears to be another Amsterdam School building.

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Eventually we took a guided tour, starting inside the post office. The interior surfaces are just as sculptural as the exterior.

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The various spaces inside the post office had carved signs in a really cool script. But I forget what "CEL" ("cell") means exactly here.

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Wow this has got to be a record number of perforations for a solid door! Especially for a solid door with a fist saying "VERBODEN".

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Back out to the Zaanstraat side. The vertically-oriented dark brick is a subtle but curious touch.

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A birdie corner. I think this is birdies. Or is it ghouls?