donderdag 12 januari 2012

Narrow shop

The narrowest shop in Amsterdam "the Small Trip-house" , 2.44 meters wide, at the Kloveniersburgwal. There is a nice legend about this house.
In the 17th century two brothers, Lodewijk and Hendrik Trip, who were very wealthy arms mercheants, built a grand canal-house for themselves on the Kloveniersburgwal. It was the largest house at that time. According to the legend one of the brothers heard a servant say that he wished he had  a house as wide as their front-door. Then the eccentric Trip brother built the "Small Trip-house" for the lucky servant on the other side of the same canal. It is a nice story but probably not true, the big house was completed in 1662 and the small one in 1696, the two brothers were already dead by then.
You probably are curious what kind of shop there is, well it is situated in the "Red Light District" area, so they call themselves a "sexy avant-garde" fashion shop.

8 opmerkingen:

  1. Leuke foto en leuk verhaal.
    Groetjes van Riet

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  2. Interesting story, even if urban-myth. The building looks as though it is getting ready to fall flat on its face, Marianne I wonder if it could have been built on an old carriageway. It is about the right width.

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  3. It is very cute! I really like how ornate it is at the top.

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  4. Julie,
    Yes, you are right, it was probably built in an alleyway between two existing houses.I read on the internet that in the back it widens out behind the neighbouring house to about 6 metres.

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  5. funny story... always too bad when its not true! like that carrots are orange because of our king willem van oranje (although they did specifically start to culture the orange carrots, but i believe it was just for looks and taste... i forgot).
    i hate all those sex-shops... :(

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  6. Great story and the house is very charming. We have walked around once in the red light district to show the NZ guests we had

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  7. Cute story. Wonder what's on the upper floors? There's hardly room for a staircase to get up there.

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