The Bungehuis is a monumental office building on the

Spuistraat The Spuistraat in downtown Amsterdam connects the Hekelveld to the Spui. It runs roughly north to south, parallel to the Singel and the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. At the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, the Spuistraat crosses the Raadhuisstraat and ...

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 ...

, built in 1934. In 1971 the building was rented by the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

, which used it to house the department of humanities and later purchased it. The building is a

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

History

The Bungehuis was built as an office building for the N.V. Bunge's Handelmaatschappij. Its design was functionalis. Three of its sides are freestanding; its boundaries are the Paleisstraat,

, and

Singel The Singel () is one of the canals of Amsterdam. The Singel encircled Amsterdam in the Middle Ages, serving as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ bay, near the Central St ...

. Twenty houses had to be torn down to make room for the concrete skeleton. The first architect was

Adolf Daniël Nicolaas van Gendt Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German origins. The name is a compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwolf'' (or ''Hadulf''), a composition of ''athal'', or ''adal'', mean ...

, but after his untimely death in 1932, W.J. Klok was assigned the job of finishing the building.

University of Amsterdam

In 1971 the

rented the building for the humanities department, as a temporary solution; the permanent home of the department was to be a large building on Uilenburg, near the

IJtunnel The IJtunnel, opened on 30 October 1968, is an automobile tunnel under the IJ (Amsterdam), IJ that connects the centre of Amsterdam with Amsterdam-Noord. The tunnel is part of a route across Amsterdam that connects the Ringweg North with the R ...

. In 1974, the university decided against that purchase and bought the Bungehuis. It housed information desks for various language studies, office space, and classrooms. Close by was the

PC Hoofthuis The PC Hoofthuis is an educational building of the University of Amsterdam in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. Built between 1976 and 1983, it is considered one of the primary works of the Dutch architect Theo Bosch, completed in association with ...

, which featured the same functions for the psychology department.

Soho House

The university desired to sell both buildings to real estate developers. The Bungehuis was sold in February 2015 to Aedes Real Estate, which was to rent it to

Soho House Soho House is a museum run by Birmingham Museums Trust, celebrating Matthew Boulton's life, his partnership with James Watt, his membership of the Lunar Society of Birmingham and his contribution to the Midlands Enlightenment and the Indust ...

, which planned to use it for a private club with restaurant and 79 hotel rooms. Students, however, occupied the building, from 13 February to 24 February, to protest various decisions by the University; the police removed them. In May 2017 a judge ruled that the building may not be turned into a hotel; the Amsterdam municipality announced it would appeal the decision to the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

. The roof terrace was equipped with a rainwater retention system, which keeps almost 14,000 liters of rainwater and delays its entrance into the city's sewage system. Since 2018 Soho House has operated the building as a private members club and hotel.

References

{{coord, display=title, 52, 22, 19.38, N, 4, 53, 21.12, E, scale:781_region:NL Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam University of Amsterdam