Moderniteit als ‘monumentale zakelijkheid’

Drie monumenten en momenten in het moderniseringsproces van de binnenstad van Amsterdam

Samenvatting

In this article Kim Sher discusses three unique monumental office-buildings which were built in the old city-center of Amsterdam during the period 1900-1940. In this period the city of Amsterdam underwent large scale changes as a result of different processes of modernization. Although the histories of these three buildings can be seen as examples par excellence of these processes, their place in the historiography of the modern city of Amsterdam remained marginal. This study is an attempt to start and fill this gap. These monumental office-buildings exhibit the big tension of modernity better than any other modern building-type; between the long-term and large-scale developments that tend to homogenize periods and areas on the one hand and on the other hand the unique concrete outcomes of these development which gave the modern city its actual heterogenous shape.