The nineteenth century is the century of progress and increasing prosperity, but also of rising inequality. Workers barely made ends meet and lived in slums. Revolutionary garden villages had to make life better.
In Europe, thinkers and doers pondered the problem of poverty. Some believed that only a revolution could bring a solution, others did everything they could to prevent such an outcome, pushing for reforms and taking practical initiatives to alleviate poverty. Countless charitable and humanitarian individuals, churches, foundations and associations did their best to make the life of the working class more pleasant. Building affordable and better homes was also an initiative, initially private.
Around the turn of the century, the liberal government introduced a series of important laws, including the Housing Act of 1901. This law entailed on the one hand tighter supervision of the still largely private housing market, on the other hand much wider possibilities for social housing through the provision of government subsidies. Numerous workers now joined forces in housing associations, such as in Amsterdam Eigen Haard, founded in 1909, and the Algemeene Woningbouw Vereeniging (AWV), founded in 1910.
English example
The expanded possibilities for social housing appealed to the imagination of progressive young architects, educated at the Delft University of Applied Sciences. In 1904 they formed the Social-Technische Vereeniging of Democratic Engineers and Architects, including the Amsterdammer Arie Keppler (1876-1941). For example, they studied housing initiatives elsewhere and developed ideas about urban planning and land use.
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The idea of the garden city, the brainchild of the British journalist Ebenezer Howard (1850-1936), made a great impression. He put in his bestseller Garden Cities of To-Morrow (1902) discussed ideas regarding the establishment of green, healthy, spacious and self-sufficient cities for no more than 30,000 inhabitants. His book initiated the foundation in 1903 of the garden city of Letchworth, just north of London.
Dutch architects went there on a working visit and discussed his book at length. A self-sufficient garden city was considered a bit ambitious for the already full and small Netherlands, but Howard's ideas were considered very appropriate for new working-class neighborhoods on the outskirts of the existing Dutch cities:the idea of the garden village was born.
Progressive city council
One of the great proponents of this idea was Keppler, who from 1915, as director of the Amsterdam Housing Service, was given the opportunity to put the garden village idea into practice. He had the tide with him, because the Amsterdam city council was dominated by the decisive social democratic alderman Wibaut and chaired by the liberal mayor Jan Willem Tellegen (1859-1921). These were men who energetically took up the explanation of the overcrowded city and encouraged social housing.
Keppler established four garden villages around the growing city. The best known of these was the Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer, which was built between 1923 and 1930, the only one to be built on the south side of the city. The plans for the construction of the garden village were made by the architects Jan Gratama (1877-1947) and Gerrit Versteeg (1872-1938). They built more than 1,100 homes in the new Tuindorp for the housing associations Eigen Haard and AWV.
Gratama and Versteeg were in a sense exemplary for the background of the architects that were attracted:the former knew Keppler from Delft and belonged to the idealistic architects, the latter was a farmer's son who had worked his way up to master builder through the carpentry trade.
Concrete experiment
Both housing associations built in brick, as is customary in the Netherlands, and in a sober Amsterdam School style. However, Keppler also wanted to build 900 homes on behalf of the municipality, and wanted to experiment with concrete as a building material. At that time, it was much cheaper than brick, which was extremely expensive due to the general scarcity after the First World War.
Keppler engaged a dozen different concrete makers, each of whom had its own construction method and who had to come up with an architect. Among them was Gratama, who wanted to experiment with concrete, but also, for example, the Haarlem architect Han van Loghem (1881-1940) and the Amsterdam architect Dick Greiner (1891-1964). Betondorp, as it was popularly known, was built in this way for seven years.
Light, air and space
The young Greiner was given the honorable assignment – perhaps because of his friendship with Keppler – to develop the heart of the garden village, the village green. In accordance with the garden village idea, the necessary facilities were built there, such as shops, a library, an association building and a kind of courtyard for the elderly.
The district was spacious, with lots of greenery, air and light, a number of schools and many play and sports opportunities. This is to promote the mental and physical health and knowledge development of the inhabitants. The houses were relatively uniform in design, with flat roofs and an economical layout. Where possible, the aim was to build single-family homes, because according to Keppler, being allowed to live in them was the worker's happiness.
Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer was a great success. Although relatively far from the city with relatively high rents, the new quarter attracted many people:socialist-minded workers and lower-ranking officials who were willing to live in the garden village. The 'red village' was a sea of red flags on 1 May, and a rich club life flourished, with the library being well visited.
The village also became a vehicle for social advancement thanks to the excellent educational facilities. Although times and the population structure of Betondorp have changed, this example of social-democratic housing is still a very popular place to live.