De Pijp

De Pijp
—  Neighborhood of Amsterdam  —
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
COROP	Amsterdam
Borough
Population (2009)	33,120
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)

De Pijp is a neighborhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Pijp is located directly south of Amsterdam's city centre and it is part of the borough 'Amsterdam-Zuid'. Most street names in the Pijp are named after Dutch painters, like Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Ruysdael and Vincent van Gogh.

The most famous and busiest street market of the Netherlands, the Albert Cuyp Market, is in the Pijp. It is open six days per week and attracts a lot of tourists. The former Heineken brewery is also a popular tourist attraction. Next to the former Heineken brewery is the Marie Heinekenplein, which has a lot of bars and cafes, as well as the near Gerard Douplein. Along the canal 'Ruysdaelkade' there is a small red light area.

The Pijp has a very diverse population, with a lot of yuppies as well as foreign immigrants (43% of the population is foreign, most of whom are non-western immigrants) and students. Famous Dutch people who have lived in the Pijp include painter Piet Mondriaan, folk singer André Hazes and actress Carice van Houten.

Planning and construction

The Pijp is now regarded as an example of 19th century revolution-build, cheap construction, but was once regarded very different. In the second half of the 19th century, urban expansion was necessary because of a fast growing population. In the spirit of Sarphati the young city engineer Van Niftrik made an idealistic plan (1866) for a full-scale expansion belt in the polder area along the edge of Amsterdam, where the Pijp (then called away YY), a beautiful new center, would be built. The plan included the construction of the Amsterdam Central Station in the middle of the Pijp, on the current location of the Sarphati park, with a modern railway along the Ceintuurbaan. North of the track there would be large apartment blocks and wide streets, and on the south a villa area with green and wide avenues, in a star pattern. Plan YY had a grandeur that could equal that of the new districts of Paris and Vienna. However, the council rejected the plan.

A new plan was drafted by Kalff, the director of the Public Works department (Plan-Kalff, 1876). The only thing he maintained from the old plan was the raising of the polder area with about five feet for the drainage and sewage. He refrained from regrouping, so that the street pattern was a copy of the old polder lock pattern. It was all built as quickly as possible, using the cheapest materials (jerry-building). No villas were built. The Pijp became an area of long streets with a typical street wall image: generally four stories with a canopy, the height staggered between the plots, each piece topped with a white roof with a cap and lifting bar, and each house is three windows wide.

The southern part of the Pijp, including the Diamantbuurt (Diamond neighborhood) was built some years later, around 1925. This area was designed according to the Amsterdam School style of architecture.

Coordinates: 52°21′11″N 4°53′46″E / 52.35306°N 4.89611°E / 52.35306; 4.89611