Between Dutch historians, it is agreed that ‘home’ as a concept developed in the 19th century, after a period where the boundary between inside and outside was very thin. Streetwalkers passed by as the doors were open inside, the top half of doors often open, and the noise of the street mixing with sounds from within.
Women sat at the doors.
Vermeer, Het Straatje
In the 19th century, the private and public sphere began to separate.
The concept of civility was emphasized through so-called decent behavior, one that in part emphasized the roughness of the outdoors. Street life was understood to be dirty, noisy and crowded. In conversations, in etiquette, in social climbing rituals, the split began.
Inside the home was to be orderly, neat, and warm – gezellig. Civility rules began to form, started by a wealthy elite who already controlled culture and media. Quickly it spread out among all aspects of life: work, behavior and comportment, family, self-care, and the general home interior.
At the underlying root was an urban cleansing, one whose direct effect was to exclude to certain groups and maintain order, and one that also aspired to raise the quality levels of life for those that deemed it to be, simply, better. It was set in motion by high society and over the century trickled down to the middle class, then the rest of society.
The Amsterdamschen Bestuurdersbond (Association of Amsterdam Administration) was so invested in materializing these new customs and behaviors, they commissioned a research on the homes of the Amsterdam slums, to promote the Dutch Housing Act of 1901.
This Act was designed to promote the construction of good houses and make it impossible to build and inhabit unhealthy spaces, especially since at the time it was rampant in the name of liberalism.
The researchers reported of terrible living conditions in the outskirts of Amsterdam, then the outside of the canal belt. Descriptions of large families cramped into small spaces, dirt, smells, animals, and overall degradation spilling onto the streets helped kickstart a redesign of the city. The slums were demolished or renovated, and new, gorgeous neighborhoods were built – Rivierenbuurt and Oud-Zuid, the Westelijke Tuinsteden.
But the numbers didn’t include to mention how these houses had been there for far too long, and certain homes had not been built for certain luxuries, like the separation of cleanliness and order. Be it so, the homes were simply destroyed and rebuilt, and the people remained, as did their lifestyle.
They were keen on showing off their new homes and their social standing, a display of nouveau dreams. So came the fake gold, the imitation antique furniture, and frilly curtains. But while they proudly displayed what, and who, they had become, upper society would continue to deride their style as ‘fake chic’.
The fact that this Jordaan style, right on the border with the old money canals, has over the century become the calling card of the city, and lauded as true, authentic Amsterdam, is sweet irony.
“Oh you’re from the lower half of the Jordaan? It’s nice. But up here is the real Amsterdam.” – Lady on the street, May 2018
Comments are closed here.