Betondorp (; Concrete Village) is a neighbourhood of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It was built in the 1920s as an experiment in building affordable housing with new, cheap building materials, chiefly concrete. The houses are built in a sober, minimalist form of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

. Betondorp is located in the Watergraafsmeer neighbourhood. Footballer Johan Cruyff was born and raised in Betondorp. In his teens he joined Ajax, his hometown club that had their stadium and training ground right across from where he grew up. Another famous Betondorp native was Gerard van het Reve, and he lived with his older brother Karel van het Reve and their parents in the Ploegstraat (the family lived in three different houses in de Ploegstraat) in Betondorp between 1924 and 1938.

References

Amsterdam-Oost Neighbourhoods of Amsterdam {{NorthHolland-geo-stub