The monumental Sibbel buildings consist of a continuous row of ten brick houses with four maisonettes each. The complex was built in 1828 as housing that replaced workers’ homes. The buildings consist of a basement, a high attic, a low floor, and a living area in the roof. The ground floor houses large gardens.
During the renovation, the complex was provided with a new foundation and the historical additions to the rear facade were rebuilt. All the renovated construction elements, such as the rear facade, stone walls, sidewalks, and roof tiles, were produced in an artisanal manner. Historical details and profiles were given a lot of attention. For example, cast-iron balustrades were restored and the masonry was treated with dark facade paint.
The residents of the social housing units have been closely involved in the design process. The majority have returned to their old home after the renovation. Despite the strict restoration measures, it was possible to significantly improve the energy performance to label B. The high-quality installations and insulation packages are completely hidden from view.
Many newspaper pages are already full of coverage of the Sibbel properties on the Hoogte Kadijk, especially of the combative residents. If a prize is to be awarded for this project, the residents deserve it most.
It is thanks to their fighting spirit that this unique series of properties was not demolished, and that they were even declared a national monument.
These are ten buildings in a row that were built in 1828 by Gerrit Moele to house workers from houses that had been demolished just a little further along. Until 1950, the houses were owned by the brewery De Gekroonde Valk; after that, they came into the possession of Mrs. Sibbel – hence the name. Under her management, the buildings fell into disrepair and were in danger of being demolished in the seventies. Activists from the Kadijken Committee seized the houses and managed to stop demolition.
The properties were taken over by the municipal Housing Company Amsterdam; the squatters were allowed to remain as social tenants. In 2002, the properties were transferred for one euro to the housing corporation De Key.
The hardworking people of the Kadijken kept working, but could not prevent the houses from deteriorating more and more. “We were really afraid that they would slide off the embankment,” says Rein van Zelst (63), the area developer of De Key. “In 2007 they were evicted because of the risk of collapse.”
The restoration of this national monument has become a very expensive project for De Key. “We knew that there was a lot that was wrong,” describes architect Kees Doornenbal (56) of Rappange & Partners. “The rear façade had to be completely demolished. But we were able to restore the expanded garden rooms that had previously existed. We lowered the basement so that there could be a full-fledged floor there, where we could also create the entrance.”
Joop Messinger (64) lives in such a double ground-floor apartment: 75 square meters for 533 euros per month, with a garden that opens onto a patch of public green space. She is such an epitome of fighting spirit, having lived here since 1971. Of the forty apartments, 27 are occupied by social tenants; the other thirteen are rented out to the private sector.
“The renovation was done fantastically,” says Messinger. “But the execution was partially unsuccessful. We still have a major problem with moisture in the walls. We repeatedly pointed this out to De Key, but the communication with the corporation was deplorable. We even got seven months of rent reduction.”
Other residents also report that the moisture problems are quite serious. It is therefore quite striking that most of them give their own home a lower rating than the entire complex of the Sibbel properties. But they are very positive about the restoration: “The national monument has been preserved,” says one. “It has been very beautifully renovated, so that it fits the old neighborhood feel of Amsterdam,” says another. Their overall rating comes to 8.1.
“We are really happy that we could return here,” summarizes Joop Messinger, “in a lovely light house, with a garden, in the center of the city and in a very nice neighborhood.”
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