Hotel Die Port van Cleve is a historical 4-star hotel on the

Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal The Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal () is a street in the centre of Amsterdam. The street runs north-south without intersecting major streets other than the intersection with Raadhuisstraat at its halfway point, right behind the Royal Palace. On the eas ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The hotel is situated in the centre of Amsterdam, immediately north of the

Magna Plaza The Former Amsterdam Main Post Office, currently a shopping mall known as Magna Plaza, is a monumental building located at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 182, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was built in 1895–1899 in Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance style. ...

shopping centre, and west of the Royal Palace on the

Dam Square Dam Square or the Dam () is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the best-known and most important locations in the city and the country. Location and description ...

. The hotel offers 122 rooms, 1 meeting rooms The Brewery Club, restaurant Hulscher's renowned for the numbered steaks and authentic Bar-Bodega 'De Blauwe Parade' with a unique

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

Blue tile fresco from 1887.

History

Hotel Die Port van Cleve owes its name to a plaque of ‘Huys te Kleef’, that was part of the building complex of brewery ‘De Hooiberg’. The brewery was located here since 1592, when widow Weyntgen Elberts bought the building and established the brewery of her husband here. In the years that followed, the building was expanded between the Nieuwezijds Voor- and Achterburgwal. Brewery ‘De Hooiberg’ was very successful and remained so until the 18th century. In 1863 the building complex was bought by

Gerard Adriaan Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

. Due to the filling of the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

and the name change of the

Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal The Spuistraat in downtown Amsterdam connects the Hekelveld to the Spui. It runs roughly north to south, parallel to the Singel and the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. At the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, the Spuistraat crosses the Raadhuisstraat and P ...

Spuistraat The Spuistraat in downtown Amsterdam connects the Hekelveld to the Spui. It runs roughly north to south, parallel to the Singel and the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. At the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, the Spuistraat crosses the Raadhuisstraat and P ...

, Heineken moved his brewery to its current location on the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam.

Beerhouse ‘Die Port van Cleve’

On the side of the Achterburgwal only the bottling room of the brewery remained in operation. For the buildings on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, Heineken contracted the brothers G.J. and M.J. Hulscher to convert them into a beerhouse. During the renovations the Hulscher brothers found a memorial stone engraved with the text ‘Die Port van Cleve’, which also became the name for the establishment. On 5 September 1870 beerhouse Die Port van Cleve opened its doors.

Eating-house ‘De Poort’

In 1874 the beerhouse expanded with a restaurant, eating-house ‘De Poort’, where typical Dutch dishes were served and the now still well-known numbered steaks. The service in ‘De Poort’ was renowned, just as ‘the

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

’ of de Poort. The eating-house ‘De Poort’ system, meant to serve the best possible food as fast as possible. The speed of the order was very important. After ordering, the waiters, of whom many could not read and write, continuously shouted their orders as loud as possible. The waiter behind the buffet, known as ‘the echo’, repeated these orders to the kitchen equally loud and preferably with the same intonation without missing a word. After the preparation in the kitchen, the whole order was echoed back to the restaurant. In 1879 ‘De Poort’ was the first building that was completely

electrically Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

lit.

Bodega ‘De Blauwe Parade’

In 1888 the building was renovated. The façade was completely renovated in the Dutch

neo-renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style, with sandstone, brick and high windows. This architectural design came from Amsterdam architect Isaac Gosschalk (1838–1907). Gosschalk was also famous for the design of the Westergas fabriek and the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. The building was also expanded with the house on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 180, ‘De Zeven Keurvorsten’. On 3 juli 1888 a bodega was opened, Bodega ‘De Blauwe Parade’, decorated with a typical old-Dutch interior and a unique Delft Blue tile fresco of approximately 26 metres. The fresco, designed by the managing director of the Museum Lambert van Meerten, A. Le Comte, depicts a parade of children, simulating the historical triumphs from the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

in honor of the Emperor Maximilian. The emperor is recognizable by his crown and the three crosses on his chest. These days the crosses are still visible in the Amsterdam city sign. They stand for heroism, determination and mercifulness. This tile fresco was produced in 1887 by the well known Delft stoneware factory ‘

De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles The Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles N.V. (trading publicly as Royal Delft) is a Dutch manufacturer of Delft Blue earthenware, headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands. It is the only remaining factory out of 32 that were established in Delft during the ...

’.

Aeon Plaza Hotels

In 1996, Hotel Die Port van Cleve was purchased by its current owners, the shareholders of Aeon Plaza Hotels. Since then the building has undergone several structural changes. The building still has numerous authentic features. The unique façade of this historic hotel has remained unchanged and has obtained a monumental status. As well as the unique interior of Bar-Bodega ‘De Blauwe Parade’, with its Delft blue tile fresco.

Sources

* Spies, P., K. Kleijn e.a., ''Het Grachtenboek II'' (SBV, Den Haag 1992) - * ''Ons Amsterdam'' (Januari 2004) * Diverse documentation from the Bureau Monumenten & Archeologie Gemeente Amsterdam

External links

Hotel Die Port van Cleve

Aeon Plaza Hotels
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