The three Greenland warehouses with their step gables at Keizersgracht 40 44 belonged to the Greenland (or Nordic) Company, which dominated Arctic whaling from the early l7th century when Amsterdam's whalers edged out the Basques. Whalers from Zaandam proved more competitive after the company's monopoly was lifted in 1642, though Amsterdam continued whaling till the early 1800s.
The company established a settlement on an island off Spitsbergen (Svalbard, north of Norway) where harpooned whales were dragged ashore for processing. Whale oil was much sought after for a variety of uses (soap, oil lamps, paint), as was whalebone or baleen (corsets, cutlery). Oil storage wells in these Keizersgracht warehouses (there were five in a row the ones at Nos 36 and 38 have been demolished) held 1,00,OOOL of the precious stuff, and more barrels sat alongside the whalebone on the top floors. The authorities moved the storage facilities to the Western Islands in 1685 to maintain the upmarket character of the canal belt. Many houses at this end of Keizersgracht used to belong to whaling executives and still bear decorations related to their trade.
Farther south on the opposite side of the canal, halfway between Herenstraat and Leliegracht, is the House with the Heads at No 123, one of the finest examples of Dutch Renaissance architecture. The beautiful step gable, with its six heads at door level representing the classical muses, is reminiscent of Hendrick de Keyser's Bartolotti House on Herengracht. This is not
surprising: the original owner, Nicolaas Sohier, was related to the Bartolottis and commissioned De Keyser to design the house, though the architect died in 1621 and the job was presumably completed by his son Pieter a year later. Folklore has it that the heads represent six burglars, decapitated in quick succession by an axe wielding maid of Sohier's as they tried to break into the cellar. Appropriately, the building now houses the city's conservation office which aims to preserve the city's monuments.
The tall Greenpeace Building at No 174 176, which houses the organisation's international headquarters as well as the Dutch branch, is a rare example of Art Nouveau architecture in Amsterdam (The Hague has a much richer collection). It was built in 1905 for a life insurance company the facade's huge tile tableau shows a guardian angel who seems to be peddling an insurance policy.
On the same side of the canal, note the pink granite triangles of the Homomonument at Westermarkt just before you get to Raadhuisstraat. It commemorates those who were persecuted for their homosexuality by the Nazis homosexuals had to wear a pink triangle, while Jews wore the Star of David. See Gay & Lesbian Travellers in the Facts for the Visitor chapter for more about this monument.
Beyond Raadhuisstraat and still on the same side of the canal, the row of houses from No 242 to 252 became famous as a squatters' fortress known as the Groote Keyser. Squatters occupied the empty buildings in November 1978 and couldn't be served with eviction notices until the authorities found out their full names.
Notices were served a year later, but the squatters stayed put and could count on a well organised support network to meet force with force. They fortified the buildings and set up a pirate radio station, the Vrije Keyser (Free Keyser), which scanned the police frequencies and broadcast instructions to their supporters the station played a key role in the massive riots that accompanied Queen Beatrix's coronation on 30 April 1980. Eventually the owners and authorities
gave up: in October 1980 the council bought the buildings, legalised the squatters and renovated the houses on their behalf.
A bit farther along Keizersgracht, just beyond Berenstraat, is the Felix Meritis building at No 324. It was built in 1787 by Jacob Otten Husly for an organisation called Felix Meritis (Latin for 'Happy through Merit'), a society of wealthy residents who promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment through the study of science, arts and commerce. It became the city's main cultural centre in the 19th century. The colonnaded facade served as a model for that of the Concertgebouw, and its oval concert hall (where Brahms, Grieg and Saint Saens performed) was copied as the Concertgebouw's Kleine Zaal (Small Hall) for chamber music.
The building later passed to a printing company and was gutted by fire in 1932. After WWII it became the headquarters of the Dutch Communist Party (and the offices of the party newspaper), and from 1968 to 1989 the Shaffy Theatre Company staged its avant garde productions here. Today, the reconstituted Felix Meritis Foundation promotes European performing arts in the building.
Opposite Felix Meritis, at No 317, is the residence where Tsar Peter the Great of Russia surprised his host, Christoffel Brants, by sailing right up to the house in the passenger barge from Utrecht to pay his respects. The Brants family used to live in Russia where they shared Peter's interest in ships. In 1697 the young tsar had already paid an incognito visit to the world centre of shipbuilding to serve as an apprentice shipwright; this time, in 1716 17, his visit was official.
The city dignitaries greeted him with compliments in cultured French; he answered in earthy Dutch expletives, drank beer straight from the jug at the evening banquet and spent the night on the floor beside his bed. The next day he moved to the Russian ambassador's house at Herengracht 527 and trashed the place with bouts of drunken revelry over the following months. A similar lot befell Brants' country mansion (called 'Petersburg') along the Vecht River,
though Brants received handsome financial recompense and a title.
The intersection of Keizersgracht and Leidsestraat has a couple of remarkable buildings. The Metz department store at Keizersgracht 455 was built in 1891 to house the New York Life Insurance Company (hence the exterior and interior eagles) but soon passed to the purveyor of luxury
furnishings. The functionalist designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld added the gallery on the top floor where you can have lunch with a view.
Across the canal at No 508 is the former PC Hooft store, built for a cigar manufacturer in 1881 by AC Bleijs (the architect of the St Nicolaaskerk near Centraal Station). The name refers to poet, playwright, historian and national icon Pieter Cornelisz Hoeft, whose 300th birthday was commemorated in this Dutch Renaissance throwback with Germanic tower. Note the playful reliefs depicting the various stages of tobacco preparation.
Farther along on this side of the canal, beyond Leidsestraat, is the solid yet elegant Keizersgrachtkerk at No 566. It dates from 1888 and was built to house the orthodoxCalvinist Gereformeerd community who left the Dutch Reformed Church two years before (see Religion in the Facts about Amsterdam chapter).
The next side street is Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, lined with shops selling luxury antiques and other collectables. Even if you don't have the inclination (or the money!) to buy anything, at least have a look at the goods on offer. The extension of this street, the pretty Spiegelgracht with more antique shops and especially art galleries, leads to the Rijksmuseum.
Farther along Keizersgracht, across windswept Vijzelstraat, is the Museum Van Loon (Ph: 624 52 55) at No 672, built in 1672 (along with the house next door, No 674) for a wealthy anus dealer. The portraitist Ferdinand Bol, a faithful student of Rembrandt, rented the place for awhile. In the late 1800s it was acquired by the Van Loons, one of the most prominent patrician families, who lived in a style befitting their status; their stables across the canal at No 607 now house an art gallery. The house, with its period rooms and family portraits, provides a good impression of canalside living when money was no object, and the rococo rose garden is typical of the greenery Amsterdammers aspired to in the 18th century. The museum is only open Friday to Monday from I I am to 5 pm and costs f7.50 (f5 with discounts).
Note the austere, two storey Arnstelhof on the opposite side of the river where Keizersgracht meets the Amstel. It was built in 1683 as an almshouse and is still in use today for Dutch Reformed elderly women (and men, in the basement). It illustrates how the canal project ran out of steam by the time it reached the Amstel. Much of the land beyond was given over to charities or turned into recreational area: the wealthy had already bought their plots and built their mansions, and the Dutch Republic went into consolidation mode against the British and French, which meant there was little new wealth (only increased wealth for those who already had money).
