Why do Amsterdam’s houses lean?
Amsterdam’s houses lean for two different reasons. Many tip forward on purpose: they were built that way so goods could be hoisted to the attic without hitting the front. Others lean sideways or backwards by accident, because the wooden piles they stand on have rotted or sunk.
Leaning forward, on purpose
Look up at almost any old canal house and you will see a beam sticking out of the gable with a hook on it. The stairs inside are too steep and narrow for furniture or merchandise, so everything went up the outside on a rope and in through the windows.
A front that leans out over the street keeps the load clear of the wall on its way up. So the forward tilt is not a fault. It was built in, and the beam and hook are still used on moving day.
Leaning sideways, by accident
The other kind of lean comes from below. The ground under Amsterdam is soft peat and clay, and every building stands on piles driven down to a layer of sand. For centuries those piles were wooden. A wooden pile lasts as long as it stays under water; when the water level drops and air reaches it, it rots.
When some piles under a house give way before others, the house tips. Because the houses stand shoulder to shoulder, one that leans takes its neighbours with it, and they end up propping each other up.
It has always happened
This is not a modern problem. The Montelbaanstoren began to lean in 1610, four years after its heavy new top was added, and had to be pulled upright again and given a firmer footing. The Concertgebouw stood on 2,186 wooden piles and by 1983 was sinking, with cracks an inch wide in its walls; from 1985 the piles were replaced with concrete. Magna Plaza needed new foundations when it was turned into shops in the 1990s.
So when you see a house that looks as if it has had too much to drink, check which way it leans. Forward is the builder. Sideways is the ground.
Where to see it
- Montelbaanstoren The Montelbaanstoren is a tower on the Oudeschans canal, built in 1516 to defend Amsterdam’s shipyards.
- Concertgebouw The Concertgebouw is Amsterdam’s concert hall, opened on 11 April 1888 and designed by Adolf Leonard van Gendt.
- Magna Plaza Magna Plaza is a shopping centre in Amsterdam’s former Main Post Office, built in 1895–1899 behind the Royal Palace to a design by the government architect Cornelis Peters.
- Royal Palace The Royal Palace on Dam Square was built between 1648 and 1665 as Amsterdam’s town hall, designed by Jacob van Campen.
Walking through Amsterdam? Lookstory tells you the story of whatever you’re standing in front of. Point your phone at it.
Open Lookstory