Work · Canal house
Canal house, Herengracht.
A rijksmonument from 1685, taken back to its beams and brought forward to now.
The brief
Four floors, three centuries of alterations and a staircase nobody could use. Keep everything that is truly old, and make the rest disappear.
1685
the year the house was built
52
weeks from first sketch to handover
280 m²
over four floors and a souterrain
2024
completed
Old where it is old.
The house had been divided into three flats in the seventies. We removed the partitions, the suspended ceilings and forty years of carpet, and found the oak beams and the marble hall floor underneath, both intact.
Everything original was restored: the sash windows with their wavy glass, the stair, the beams. Everything new is plainly new. Lime plaster, oak herringbone, a Carrara kitchen, brass that will darken. Nothing pretends to be from 1685.
The kitchen moved to the garden level, where the light is, with tall doors onto the walled garden. Permits for a rijksmonument took eleven weeks. We handled the municipality and the neighbours; the clients handled the colour of the sofa.
Six materials, one house.
- 01
Oak beams
Original, 1685. Cleaned, treated and left exposed on every floor.
- 02
Oak herringbone
New floors laid in the traditional pattern, oiled.
- 03
Lime plaster
On every wall, breathable, as the house was built.
- 04
Carrara marble
The kitchen island, the bathrooms and the restored hall floor.
- 05
Brass, unlacquered
Taps, handles and lights. Left to darken.
- 06
Deep-blue velvet
The one colour in the house: the sofa, and the kitchen fronts in the same blue.
The facts.
What was asked, what was done, and how long it took. Every number here is the real one.
- Type
- Canal house
- Location
- Herengracht, Amsterdam
- Built
- 1685Rijksmonument
- Scope
- Full renovationStructure, all floors, kitchen, three bathrooms, garden
- Size
- 280 m²Over four floors and a souterrain
- Floors
- Four, plus souterrain
- Duration
- 52 weeks12 weeks design, 40 weeks build
- Completed
- 2024
Fixed price agreed in week thirteen. Handed over in week fifty-two, as planned.
How a project runs
“They found the beams and the marble floor under what three previous owners had done. It feels like the house finally got what it deserved.”
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