Java-eiland: From the East Indies Quay to Squatters' Island
Why is it significant?
You are now on a long, narrow strip of land with water on three sides. To the north, the wide IJ with ferries crossing to Amsterdam Noord. To the south, the quiet inner harbour. And all along the island, a wall of new apartment blocks, broken every so often by a small canal.
Key Facts
| Place | Java-eiland: From the East Indies Quay to Squatters' Island |
|---|---|
| Address | Brantasgracht, 1019 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.37970, 4.92550 |
| Part of Walk | Ships, Silos and a Red Python: Modern Architecture of Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands |
| Generated | Generated |
You are now on a long, narrow strip of land with water on three sides. To the north, the wide IJ with ferries crossing to Amsterdam Noord. To the south, the quiet inner harbour. And all along the island, a wall of new apartment blocks, broken every so often by a small canal.
This island did not exist for most of Amsterdam's history. It was made at the end of the nineteenth century from dredged soil, as a pier for the new eastern harbour. From here the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, the Netherlands Steamship Company, ran its services to the Dutch East Indies. Passengers, mail and cargo left from this quay for Batavia, today's Jakarta, and that is why the island is called Java and its streets and canals carry Indonesian names.
After the Second World War, Indonesia fought for and won its independence, and the colonial trade that had fed these docks fell away. Ships were getting bigger, cargo was moving into containers, and the port moved west to deeper water. By the 1980s the warehouses here were empty, and squatters and artists moved in, turning sheds into studios, workshops and living spaces.
Then, in the 1990s, the city decided to turn the whole of the eastern harbour into housing. The plan for this island came from the Amsterdam architect Sjoerd Soeters, and it was a provocation in its own way. Instead of the uniform slabs of earlier decades, he wanted the feeling of the old canal city: variety, small scale, water at your door. His trick was to cut short canals across the island and line them with individual houses, each by a different architect.
The first of those canals is right here, the Brantasgracht, named after a river on Java. Walk east along the island, past the sheltered courtyards, and look down every canal as you cross it. Stop at the last one, and you will see the plan in full.