Felix Meritis
Felix Meritis is a temple-fronted building of 1788 on the Keizersgracht, put up by a society of Amsterdam citizens for music, drawing, science and literature. Its oval concert hall was the most important in the city until about 1830.
Before you hear it, a guess
The letters on the front say Felix Meritis. What was Felix Meritis?
The communists ran their party from here for thirty-four years, behind the front of a Greek temple that was built for gentlemen who wanted to improve themselves.
Read the gold letters under the roof: Felix Meritis. It is Latin for ‘happy through merit’, and it was the name of a club.
The society was founded in 1777 by well-off citizens of Amsterdam who wanted to improve themselves with music, drawing, science and books. It grew so fast that it built this house for itself. A competition was held, sixteen architects entered, and Jacob Otten Husly won. The doors opened on 31 October 1788.
Look at what he gave them: columns and a pediment, like a Greek temple set down between the canal houses. Inside, each pursuit had a room shaped for it. The oval concert hall became known across Europe for its sound. Robert and Clara Schumann performed in it, and so did Brahms and Saint-Saëns. The small hall of the Concertgebouw was later inspired by it.
Not everyone was welcome. Members had to be Christian men of good conduct, and women and Jews were kept out until far into the 19th century. The society was wound up in 1888.
“Not everyone was welcome.”
Then the building had other lives. A large printing firm moved in. In 1932 a fire destroyed the top floor and the roof. From 1947 to 1981 this was the national headquarters of the Dutch Communist Party, and its daily paper, De Waarheid, came off the presses at the back, on the Prinsengracht. In 1969 a theatre opened here with a show by the singer Ramses Shaffy.
The city has owned the building since 2014. It reopened in September 2020 for lectures, debates and music, which is what it was built for.
What to look for
The name
Gold capitals across the front spell FELIX MERITIS, just under the triangular pediment.
Four columns
Count the four tall columns with leafy capitals. They run up through two storeys, where a canal house would have plain brick.
The carved panels
Between the two upper rows of windows are carved stone panels. The building carries symbols of what the society did, outside and in.
Key facts
- Opened
- 31 October 1788
- Architect
- Jacob Otten Husly, chosen from sixteen entrants
- The society
- Felix Meritis, 1777–1888
- Communist Party headquarters
- 1947–1981
- Reopened
- 25 September 2020
- Address
- Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam Directions
- Going inside
- Opening times and tickets are on its own site. Official site
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The dates, names and figures on this page were checked against published references. These are the records for this place. The story is Lookstory’s own telling of them. Last updated October 2026.