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Slotermeer | |
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Neighborhood of Amsterdam | |
 Airey houses at Burgemeester de Vlugtlaan in Slotermeer, Amsterdam Nieuw-West. | |
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| Country | Netherlands |
| Province | North Holland |
| COROP | Amsterdam |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| Postal code | 1063, 1064 |
Slotermeer is aneighborhood ofAmsterdam,Netherlands, in the Dutchprovince ofNorth Holland. The name of Slotermeer comes from the Slootermeer Lake that used to be in this area
Slotermeer is part of a larger neighborhood calledWestelijke Tuinsteden. Following the creation of theAlgemeen Uitbreidingsplan in 1935, the first outline for the Slotermeer neighbourhood was drawn up in 1939. The Slootermeer Lake was drained in 1644. This formed theSloterdijkermeerpolder (apolder), which was excavated into theSloterplas between 1948 and 1956.
In November 1927, themunicipality of Amsterdam decided that the land west of theRingspoorbaan would primarily be used for single-family houses. The housing department was tasked to work out a plan in cooperation withPublic works for the construction of an area of about 400hectares. The garden village would be built in the same style as othergarden villages that were built around that time, such asBetondorp,Nieuwendam andTuindorp Oostzaan. Discussions between the housing department and Public works fell flat and the plan was abandoned.
However, they did keep discussing about a small triangular section of 23 hectares between the Ringspoorbaan, theHaarlemmerweg and the unrealised connection to theHaarlem railway. This downscaled plan envisagedstrokenbouw (construction in parallel rows), in the same vein as the ‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ of the new neighborhoods built inFrankfurt am Main in the 1920s. Again, this plan was abandoned as well due to disagreements and it was decided to wait for theAlgemeen Uitbreidingsplan first.
As a result ofWorld War II, the construction of Slotermeer was delayed by more than a decade. Construction began on 1 December 1951, and in late 1952, the first houses were ready to be lived in. On 7 October 1952, the firstGarden City of Amsterdam outside the Ringspoorbaan was officially opened byQueen Juliana.
A part of Slotermeer was declared protected townscape by the District Council in 2007, namely the Van Eesteren Museum, a museum dedicated toCornelis van Eesteren. Nevertheless, in 2009 it was decided to proceed with large-scale demolition in the northern and southern part of Slotermeer as part ofurban renewal.
Slotermeer is bordered to the north by theHaarlemmerweg and to the south by theSloterplas (a lake) andSloterpark, as well asSportpark Ookmeer. The eastern boundary is the Ringspoorbaan, the western boundary theEendrachtspark andGeuzeneiland (a small island). At the heart of the neighbourhood is theGerbrandypark.
The neighbourhood consists of a mixture oflow, medium, andhigh-rise buildings and was fully built up by the mid-1960s. Many streets are named after World War IIresistance fighters,mayors of Amsterdam andDutch writers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Plein '40-'45 (thetown square) and the south side of theBurgemeester de Vlugtlaan and the west side of theSlotermeerlaan form the centre of the neighbourhood, featuring an indoor mall, shops, a local market, theVrijheidscarillon, the Garden City House (an office building), hotels, offices and a small harbour.
The first few years, Slotermeer had a tram connection to the city centre with a stop along the Amsterdam -Zandvoort tram network. On 1 September 1957, the tram was replaced by a bus service. In September 1954,tramway 13 was the first Amsterdam tramway to be extended beyond the Ringspoordyke fromBos en Lommerplein to Slotermeer. The tram got its last stop at the end of theSlotermeerlaan (anavenue), nearSloterpark. In 1974, tramway 13 was extended toGeuzenveld and the last section toSloterplas was cancelled. In 1989, tramway 13 was relocated to the new route via theJan van Galenstraat - Burgemeester Röellstraat. The old route then became part of tramway 14, until 22 July 2018 when tramway 14 was cancelled. Since 2004, tramway 7 has also been added.
Whenstadsdelen (borough) were established in 1990, the neighbourhood became part ofGeuzenveld-Slotermeer. Since 2010, it has been part of thestadsdeelAmsterdam Nieuw-West.
With the approval of the Renewal Plan, the urban renewal of Slotermeer began in 2003. This plan was part of the major urban renewal project launched byBureau Parkstad covering all of theWestelijke Tuinsteden.
One of the most striking projects is the major renovation of theGrote en Kleine Verfdoos, two colourful apartment buildings with shops on theSlotermeerlaan andLodewijk van Deysselstraat. These buildings from 1954, designed byAllert Warners, were renovated in 2010 to a design by Van Schagen Architects. A second renovation project is the school buildingDe Kans by architect Rowin Petersma. This school is a defining Amsterdam "H-school" (a H-shaped school), of which four of the nine schools of this type that were built are located in Slotermeer. Another H-school, theSlootermeerschool at theBurgemeester Fockstraat 85, is a protected monument and is on the top-100 list of post-war heritage for Amsterdam.
Other projects include the renovation of the buildings on theConfuciusplein (a plaza) by architect Erna van Sambeek, new residential buildings by Margreet Duinker in theSocratesstraat and the new construction of a Multifunctional Centre called theDe Honingraat (thehoneycomb) onSlotermeerlaan by Dick van Gameren. In the development of new buildings on theBernard Loderstraat, residents had an important say in the subdivision and design of the buildings
buildings52°23′N4°49′E / 52.383°N 4.817°E /52.383; 4.817
Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article atnl:Slotermeer (tuinstad); see its history for attribution.
