Living in Staatsliedenbuurt, Amsterdam

The Staatsliedenbuurt sits in stadsdeel West, just outside the old canal ring, and it is easier to place than most Amsterdam buurten because water surrounds it. The Haarlemmertrekvaart closes it to the north; the Singelgracht, the Kattensloot and the Kostverlorenvaart close it to the east and the west. Inside that ring the streets are named after Dutch statesmen of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which is where the name comes from, and the housing is still mostly social housing, which is the single fact that shapes everything else about the place.

What it is

Amsterdam annexed this land from the municipality of Sloten in 1877 and private builders filled it with cheap workers' housing, the speculative construction the Dutch call revolutiebouw. After the Housing Act of 1901 the housing associations took over and built better, and the buurt earned the nickname koperen knopenbuurt, the brass-buttons quarter, because so many tram conductors and policemen lived in it. In the 1980s it became the hardest core of the Amsterdam squatting movement, and the death of the squatter Hans Kok in police custody after an eviction is still remembered here. What you see today is the result of decades of urban renewal on top of that: brick blocks of three and four storeys, two big squares in Van Limburg Stirumplein and Van Beuningenplein, and a former waterworks site whose water tower and machine hall were kept when the rest was rebuilt.

Who lives here

A genuinely mixed buurt, and one where the tenure matters more than the postcode. Social housing still dominates, which means a large share of the flats are let by housing associations through waiting lists rather than on the open market, and rents in that stock are capped by the national points system rather than set by demand. What reaches the room market is the private minority: flats above shops on Van Hallstraat and De Wittenkade, subdivided upper floors, the occasional new-build. The population is a layer of long-term Dutch and Moroccan and Turkish families, a layer of people who arrived when this was one of the cheapest places inside the ring, and a steady flow of students and young workers who want the Jordaan without Jordaan prices.

What it's like during the day

Quiet, domestic and green at the edges. Van Beuningenplein is a full square given over to playgrounds and ball courts rather than parking, and it is where the buurt spends its afternoons. Van Limburg Stirumplein is the smaller, more grown-up one, with a few terraces. The Westerpark begins a five-minute walk north across the water, and behind it the Westergasfabriek, the old gasworks turned into a cultural site, absorbs half the neighbourhood on a sunny weekend. Shopping streets are short and local: Van Hallstraat and Van Limburg Stirumstraat carry most of it.

What it's like in the evening

Calm. This is not a going-out buurt, and never has been: a handful of brown cafes, a few restaurants on Van Hallstraat, and a good deal of walking home from somewhere else. That somewhere else is close, which is the point. The Jordaan is six to eight minutes by bike over the Singelgracht, the Haarlemmerbuurt about the same, and the Westergasfabriek grounds are a walk rather than a ride. On weekday nights the streets are residential and empty by eleven.

Getting around

Tram 5 runs through the middle of the buurt, with stops at Van Limburg Stirumplein, Van Hallstraat and De Wittenkade, and its route is unusually useful: from here it goes on to the Jordaan at Bloemgracht and Rozengracht, Leidseplein, Museumplein, the Concertgebouw, Station Zuid and then out to Amstelveen. Bus routes run along the Haarlemmerweg on the northern edge. But as everywhere in Amsterdam the bicycle decides the geography: the Dam and Centraal are both about two kilometres, nine to eleven minutes, and Sloterdijk station is a short ride west for trains to Schiphol. There is no metro station in the buurt, and the nearest ones are on the other side of the centre, so if your commute depends on the metro this is the wrong side of town.

Eating and shopping

Everyday needs are covered inside: an Albert Heijn on Van Limburg Stirumstraat, a Dirk on Tweede Nassaustraat, a butcher and Turkish and Moroccan grocers along the main streets. For anything beyond that, the Westergasfabriek side has cafes and restaurants, and the Jordaan and Haarlemmerdijk are a short ride away with the density of small shops that West itself does not have. Do not expect a market on your doorstep: the nearest large one is the Ten Katemarkt, well to the south in Oud-West.

When NOT to pick it

If you want a lively street life on your own block, or a large private-sector rental market to choose from, this is not the place: a lot of the housing here never reaches the open market at all, and the evenings are quiet by design. Some blocks are plain post-renewal brick with little charm, and the buurt has no metro and no market of its own. It is the wrong choice if you want atmosphere on the doorstep or a big supply of rooms to compare, and the Jordaan or Oud-West would serve you better for both. It is the right choice if you want a calm, unpretentious address inside the ring, a real park five minutes away, a tram that reaches half the city and a bike ride of ten minutes to the centre, and if you are willing to hunt a little harder for the room itself.