Asscher Diamond Factory: Where the Cullinan Was Split
Why is it significant?
Take in the building on the Tolstraat with the tower, the battlements and the rows of enormous windows. It looks like a small fortress, but those windows give the game away. Diamond polishing needs daylight, as much of it as possible, and this whole building was designed to catch it.
Key Facts
| Place | Asscher Diamond Factory: Where the Cullinan Was Split |
|---|---|
| Address | Tolstraat 127, 1074 VJ Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.35310, 4.90630 |
| Part of Walk | Herring, Stroopwafels and Roti: A Food Walk Through Amsterdam's De Pijp |
| Generated | Generated |
Take in the building on the Tolstraat with the tower, the battlements and the rows of enormous windows. It looks like a small fortress, but those windows give the game away. Diamond polishing needs daylight, as much of it as possible, and this whole building was designed to catch it.
It was built in 1907 for the Asscher diamond company, to a design by the architect Gerrit van Arkel. In its heyday more than five hundred polishers worked at the benches here, and the streets around it became known as the Diamond Quarter. Look at the street signs nearby: Diamantstraat, Smaragdstraat for emerald, Saffierstraat for sapphire, and the Cullinanplein.
That last name is the big one. In 1905 a South African mine produced the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, the Cullinan. It was presented to King Edward the Seventh, and the job of cutting it went to the Asschers. In January 1908 Abraham Asscher collected it in London, and on the tenth of February, in this building, Joseph Asscher struck the blow that split it in two. Legend says he fainted straight afterwards. He himself only admitted to a rush of nerves. The biggest stones cut from it now sit in the British Crown Jewels.
The diamond trade in Amsterdam was largely a Jewish trade, and the occupation destroyed it. According to the company's history, of some five hundred Asscher polishers only about fifteen survived the war, and only ten members of the family survived. The firm rebuilt slowly afterwards, and in 1980 it received the royal title.
Today most of the building is apartments, but the main tower is still the company's headquarters... a fortress of light with a very dark past. Now walk north towards the Ceintuurbaan, close to where it meets the Amstel, and look up for two little men playing ball on a rooftop.