Museum Van Loon
Museum Van Loon is a canal house of 1672 on the Keizersgracht, built as one of a pair to a design by Adriaan Dortsman. The Van Loon family has owned it since 1884, and it has been a museum since 1973.
Before you hear it, a guess
Why did the painter Ferdinand Bol take his landlord to court?
The first tenant of this house took his landlord to court: he was paying rent for stables that had not been built. The tenant was the painter Ferdinand Bol.
Look at the top of the front: stone figures stand up there, four gods of the ancient world. Ceres, Mars, Minerva and Vulcan. They stand on two houses, not one. This house and the one beside it, number 674, were built as twins in 1671 and 1672 for a Flemish merchant, Jeremias van Raey, to a design by Adriaan Dortsman, the architect of the Ronde Lutherse Kerk.
“They stand on two houses, not one.”
Van Raey meant to live next door and let this one. His first tenant was the painter Ferdinand Bol. We know because Bol went to court: he was paying rent for a house with stables, and the stables had not yet been built.
The house changed hands many times. In 1752 Abraham van Hagen bought it, newly married to Catharina Trip, who soon fell ill and died in 1757. From their time comes the brass stair rail with their initials worked into it. In 1771 a German, Hendrik Sander, who had grown rich in Indonesia, became the owner.
In 1884 the Van Loon family came, and the house still carries their name. A copper beech they planted that year stands in the garden. After a restoration that began in 1964, Maurits van Loon opened the house as a museum in 1973.
At the back of the garden is the coach house on the Kerkstraat. In 1920 the family had a car, and the coach house became a garage.
What to look for
Gods on the roof
Look up at the stone figures along the top. They belong to two houses: this one and its twin next door.
The name in the stone
Beside the entrance, the words MUSEUM VAN LOON are cut into the grey stone of the front.
The twin
Compare the house with number 674. The two were built together, as a pair, for the same merchant.
Key facts
- Built
- 1671–1672, with its twin at number 674
- Architect
- Adriaan Dortsman
- First tenant
- The painter Ferdinand Bol
- Van Loon family
- Owners since 1884
- Museum
- Since 1973
- Address
- Keizersgracht 672, 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.