"The Scheepvaarthuis" is the prototype for Amsterdam School work: brick construction with complicated masonry, traditional massing, and the integration of an elaborate scheme of building elements - decorative masonry, art glass, wrought ironwork, spatial grammar, and especially integrated figurative sculpture - that embodies and expresses the identity of the building. The aim was to create a total architectural experience, interior and exterior, that carried social meaning.

Het Scheepvaarthuis has been built in 1916, by the architect J.M. van der Mey and others, as an office building for the "N.V. Het Scheepvaarthuis", where you could book a.o. your ocean journey ticket. The building - a State Monument since 1974 - has recently been renovated and transformed into a luxury hotel.

Decorative wrought ironwork

Entry with the typical Amsterdam School integrated figurative sculpture