Jakarta –
Houses in the Netherlands have their own uniqueness. This is slightly different from Dutch heritage houses in Indonesia.
While Dutch heritage houses in Indonesia are large, many houses in the Land of Windmills are small. Apart from that, they rarely use curtains there. I wonder why?
So, to find out more, let’s look at the following information.
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House sizes in urban areas tend to be small
Houses in the Netherlands, especially in Amsterdam, can be said to be quite narrow and vertical houses. This happens because of differences in the shape of the area.
Amsterdam is an area that has many canals or canals in the middle of the city. This canal is not an ordinary water flow, but a ‘path’ for boats passing by.
Reporting from One Nine ELMS, this narrow house shape also emerged because in the past taxes were charged based on the width of the building facade. The wider the facade or front of the building, the more expensive the taxes paid.
To get around this, Amsterdam residents built buildings that were narrow at the front but wider towards the inside and back. Residents there also raise buildings like vertical houses.
Meanwhile, as reported by What’s Up With Amsterdam, it was stated that the area of land for sale near the canal is only around 5-7 meters. It’s not surprising that many residents build 3-4 storey houses.
According to 2024 data from Statistics Netherlands analyzed by Buildsight and reported by NL Times, the average size of a house in the Netherlands is around 52 square meters per person, which is still quite large. But in big cities, house sizes are much smaller, namely 23-35 square meters in the form of micro apartments because of limited land. Even though it is smaller, this residence is said to only be able to be purchased by people with high incomes.
“In the Netherlands, we have long adhered to the tradition of single-family homes with gardens at the front and back,” says Michel van Eekert of Buildsight.
“However, land is very scarce, land plots are getting smaller, and construction costs are increasing rapidly due to the expensive materials and new technology in homes. So building smaller homes is the only solution to keep them affordable,” he added.
So how do you carry things upstairs? There is a pulley system called hijsbalken to move goods to the upper floors.
Steep Stairs
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Illustration of a circular staircase in an Amsterdam house, Netherlands. Photo: via Vogue Australia
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Because the house is narrow, the size of the stairs is also narrow. Reporting from Apartment Therapy, the project manager at Architectuur Centrum Amsterdam, Mirjam IJsseling, once said that the width of the footrest on stairs is around 15 cm, while the standard for modern buildings is a minimum of 30 cm.
Initially, houses in the Netherlands did not have dead stairs, but instead stairs that could be installed only when you wanted to use them. After a major fire in the Netherlands, many buildings were rebuilt and stairwells were added. However, because the land is too narrow, it requires the project owner to be creative when making stairs. As a result, the stairs are made steep with narrow steps.
Don’t Use Curtains
Reporting from CNN, Dutch people do not use blinds or curtains at home. A study was conducted to find out why this could happen. However, no definite answer was found. The respondents actually answered casually, such as ‘I have nothing to hide’ or ‘what do I have? Please have a look’.
In fact, there is also a belief that a house without curtains means the occupants are good people.
Anthropologists Hilje van der Horst and Jantine Messing, who have conducted research on this culture, said that instead of curtains, the windows of houses in the Netherlands are mostly decorated with decorations such as plastic flower vases, statues or works of art that can be placed in the window frame.
Another reason Dutch people like clean windows without curtains is so they can see the busy life outside. For example, seeing the lights, the hustle and bustle of the streets, and people walking by.
However, now many young people choose to use curtains on the windows. The reason is because of privacy.
That’s the reason why houses in the Netherlands, especially near canals, are small and don’t use curtains.
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(abr/zlf)
