Beurs van Berlage: the Amsterdam Stock Exchange Building

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Stamp from 1999 dedicated to the building

"The Beurs van Berlage, 1903, is made of brick, a democratic symbol. Brick was 'insignificant as an individual, a power as a mass', according to the top architect. Contemporary architecture evokes resistance, as did the Beurs at the time. Newspapers mentioned a clump of stone and an angular apple pie." 
 
If you start walking towards Dam Square from Amsterdam Central Station, you will see a  modern looking building on the left. It is known as the Beurs van Berlage. The Beurs van Berlage was designed by architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and built between 1896 and 1903. It is now in use as a venue for concerts, exhibitions and conferences. The Stock Exchange is now located in an adjacent building, Beursplein 5.
 
The Beurs van Berlage is built in red brick, with an iron and glass roof and stone pillars, beams and consoles. The entrance is below a 40m high bell tower, while inside there are three large multi-storey halls formerly used as trading floors. It even had its own post office on the ground floor. In 1930 the post office was converted into a barbershop. Postal stationery with departure stamp from Amsterdam Stock Exchange are difficult to find. 
 
In the course of time, several Dutch stamps have been issued with the theme of Mr H.P. Berlage and its buildings. In 1955 a surcharge of 7 cents + 5 cents stamp was issued as part of the Summer Charity Stamps. The 5 cent surcharge was intended for social and cultural institutions.
 
Berlage's aim was to combine the styles of the past. It has stylistic similarities to some earlier buildings, for example St Pancras station in London and the work of H.H. Richardson in America. As usual in the nineteenth century, the use of ornaments in a bourgeois structure is used. The ornaments were made by various prominent Dutch artists such as Jan Toorop, Albert Verwey, Richard Roland, Holst, Antoon Derkinderen, Mendes da Costa and Lambertus Zijl. 
 
Berlage, born in Amsterdam in 1856, was an exceptionally successful and influential architect. Berlage died in 1934 in The Hague. In 1970, the IAU named a lunar crater Berlage after him. An extensive description of him and his work can be found on Wikipedia.
 

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