Tuindorp Buiksloterham: an Amsterdam garden suburb - Part 2 North

The northern section of the Garden Village Buiksloterham situated over the reservation for the proposed Johan van Hasselt Canal was developed after work started on the southern section. The fact that building work started so much later wasn't intentional however. It had everything to do with policy changes concerning social housing on government level which hindered the Amsterdam City Council to execute its ambitious goals.

The northern part of the Garden Village Buiksloterham was developed in sections over a period of time, starting in 1921 and ending in 1950 with the completion of the church. The northern section of the garden village comprises of several distinct section on either side of the central Kamperfoeliestraat (Honeysuckle Street) that all have their own colloquial name: Floradorp (F), Zomers Buiten (ZB) also known as BLoemenbuurt Noord, Latherusbuurt Noord (Ln) and Latherusbuurt Zuid (Ls) that are both also known as Bloemenbuurt Zuid, and Bloemenbuurt West (W) directly north of the Mosplein (Moss Square - M) with the church. This former Maranatha Church is now the Coptic Church of the Virgin Mary.

All housing was built aided by subsidies given out under the 1901 Housing Act by central government to local authorities and housing associations. Due to the large pool of bad housing available in the city Amsterdam could claim large sums to aid its house building activities in the northern Y polders. The houses needed to comply with the standards set by central government to be eligible for a government advance to finance construction. The advance under favourable conditions needed to be repaid by the local authority or housing association in the decade after completion. The 1917 Emergency Housing Act that financed the Disteldorp and Vogeldorp housing made possible government grants to finance the building of emergency housing.

The housing in the northern section of the garden village was built in several building campaigns by both the Municipal Housing Service of Amsterdam and several housing associations and building coops. Each developed a number of houses in a distinct design, clearly setting each contribution to the whole garden village apart from one another. After WW2 the western section was completed (completion had originally been planned for 1940).

Although the city council preferred to build all the housing themselves, in large part financed by government advances, sections of the proposed new garden villages were set aside for development by housing associations. This move was in part practical as during the 1920s central government turned away from financing house building by municipalities but instead preferred homebuilding by housing associations. In 1921 Woningbouwvereniging Ons Belang (literally: Housing Association Our Stake) starts the development of 4 blocks of housing around Andoornstraat (Woundwort Street). The adjoining plot between the Clematisstraat (Clematis Street) and Latherusstraat (Vetchling Street) Protestantse Woningbouw (Protestant Building Society) erected working class housing in 1925. These housing associations had problems getting house building started because of the high land values. So the city council decided to provide a guarantee for the purchase of land in the Polder Buiksloterham to the housing association Zomers Buiten (literally: Country retreat for Summer). The housing association starts building between the Azaleastraat (Azalea Street) and Sneeuwbalstraat (Viburnum Street) in 1924. The Municipal Housing Service started building new housing north of this area in 1927. A private developer built the houses, shops and cinema between Mosveld and Mosplein (Moss Square).The houses in the undeveloped area on either side of the Ribesstraat (Current Street) were built between 1929 and 1932 by Woningbouwvereniging Eigen Haard (literally: Housing Association Home Hearth). They also developed the homes along Heggerankweg (Bryony Road). South of these houses the Amsterdamsche Coöperatieve Onderwijzers Bouwvereniging (Amsterdam Building Cooperative for Teachers) built houses in 1931 on the Kamperfoelieweg (Honeysuckle Road) and later along the southern stretch of the Heggerankweg.

The layout of the northern section of Tuindorp Buiksloterham made the most of the terrain and at the same time allowed for a gradual development as this part of the garden village would be divided amongst several housing associations. Green squares form the focus of the wedge shaped portions that make up the garden village. In the earliest part the lines don't converge within the garden village as they do in the later northern portions. Amenities like a police station, fire station, old peoples housing, schools, shops and communal hall were all located on one of the axis in the street layout or on a green square.   

The section of the garden village north of the canal reservation was treated as a separate entity and consisted of several wedge-shaped neighbourhoods that now make up the Floradorp (Village of Flora) and the Bloemenbuurt (Neighbourhood of the Flowers) further south. The name Tuindorp Buiksloterham has fallen into disuse and as mentioned before the inhabitants tend to subdivide the sections of the garden village into neighbourhoods. The Florapark was planned as part of the total layout thus adhering to garden city ideals of living in a green and healthy environment.