Gerrit van der Veenstraat

The street owes its name to the sculptor Gerrit-Jan van der Veen. During the Second World War, he led several resistance groups. He made false identification papers that he distributed to people who were short on money for free. He also set fire to the building that housed the population registry to prevent that the occupiers could find people through the registry. Eventually, van der Veen was captured and shot.

Paintwork from the boat building industry.

The house required maintenance. The front and the back needed to be worked on, including the small shed that stems from the same era as the house – which is where the wood rot was. We professionally cleaned the wood rot. In addition, the front door was given a new layer of varnish, not by us but by the father of the owner of the house. For years he used to work in the boat building industry and wished to do this task himself. The door was fully stripped after which the layers of clear varnish was meticulously applied. Layer after layer, just like how it’s done on wooden ships. It became an inspiring collaboration.

A place full of history.

This street and this house breathe history. During the war a large area of the neighborhood was bombed, afterwards, everything was rebuilt in the original style. A fine example of true craftsmanship and a fine example of history. But, nowadays history is also being written, and this house exudes that.