Keizersgracht 508 - a photo on Flickriver

Keizersgracht 508

May 1, 2022 - The corner house at Zeizersgracht 508 is listed as a Rijksmonument number 2628. Corner house (1892, by A.C.Bleys) in so-called Old Dutch, but in reality very elective neo-Renaissance style. "Shop on the corner of Keizersgracht and Leidsestraat. Hard stone facade. The turret is neo-Gothic, the facade has parts in the style of the neo-Renaissance.

The bust above the entrance shows P.C. head. It was three hundred years ago in March 1881 that the poet was born. Arie Blaauw's cigar warehouse that came here was also called P.C. head.

Like Bleys, Blaauw, a catholic, lived here himself, together with his wife and their eventually eleven children. Later, the space above the store was rented out as an office.

The News of the Day was enthusiastic when it was delivered in June 1881:

In the Leidschestraat on the corner of the Keizersgracht, an elegant shop building in the old Dutch style has been built.

The destination of this warehouse, after the poet P. Czn. Hooft, whose bust stands above the entrance and cartouche, is to sell tobacco and cigars therein. The front of the facade, crowned with a nice corner turret, is made of blue limestone with polished columns. The upper part of the facade is of the colorful Dutch brick and tuff and decorated with appropriate sculpture.

Bas-reliefs of children's figures, playing with emblems, allude to the tobacco trade, adorn the shop windows in neat chisel work. The inside of the shop is decorated with Delft tiles and a marble parquet floor, while copper gas candelabra in the style of paneling will illuminate the friendly tobacco palace in the evening. Well-painted and burnt glass further decorate the upper part of the windows, which will catch the eye especially in the evening.

The whole does credit to the designer, the master builder A.C. Bleys, and proves how much value can be drawn from a small piece of land if a chaste taste guides the master builder. The bas-reliefs and ornaments are due to the sculptors E. Collinet (sic) and L. de Teinelmont (sic).

The owner of this elegant tobacco shop, Mr. A. Blaauw, has enriched the Leidschestraat with an excellently clean building.
F.L.H. de Fernelmont made the reliefs; students of the Quellinus art school made the head of Hooft, under the guidance of their teacher E. Colinet. Some sources name E. van den Bossche as the sculptor. Bleys would work with him a few years later at the St. Nicholas Church on the Prins Hendrikkade.

From 1911, a branch office of "De Centrale Arbeiders-Verzekerings- en Depositobank" was located here, an insurance company whose profits largely went to the labor movement. In 1915 "De Centrale" moved to the Sarphatistraat.

In 1916, a branch of the musical instrument trade Van Overbeeke & Co. was established here." Content translated to English from the following website: amsterdamopdekaart.nl/1850-1940/Keizersgracht/508

Taken on: May 1, 2022

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Keizersgracht and Leidsestraat

Rijksmonument number 2628

Amsterdam

Amsterdam Netherlands

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Bridge 43

Brug 43

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canal bridge

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Keizerscgracht

Keizerscgracht 508

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Neo-Renaissance

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North Holland

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stepped gable canal house

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Sets appears in: • Amsterdam Post Trip Extension Day #2

Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/14.0, 1/60 sec, 16mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	TAMRON 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD B016
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	16mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.1 (Macintosh)
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