AMSTERDAM’S TOWN HALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 July 1936, Page 14

AMSTERDAM’S TOWN HALL

EXCHANGE FOR OLD PALACE. A palace for a new 6.000,000 dollars Town Hall is the barter now concluded between Amsterdam and the Government of tho Netherlands. The passing of tiro bill by the Second Chamber will end a long controversy between the city of Amsterdam and the Government over the ownership and subsequent upkeep of the so-called Royal Palace on the Dam square here. Amsterdam gives up its claims to the palace for 1(1.000.00b florins to build a new Town Hall. The “palace on the Dam," as it is colloquially called, was built between the years 1648-1665. It was then a Town Hall for Amsterdam. A remarkable feature about, it is that, it was built, on a foundation of 13,659 wooden piles driven into tho soft ground, while the reception hall is one of the largest in Europe measuring 120 feet by 60 feet.

tn 1808. during Hr.? French domination, King Louis Napoleon took this building for a palace and although the city of Amsterdam never waived its property rights, it has been used as a royal palace on the rare occasions when the Queen Willrsmina spends some days in her capital. The royal residence is at The Hague.

Amsterdam has long felt the need of a new Town Hall, as th? administration of the capital has outgrown its present premises, the so-called Princes’ Court in the old city. Some time ago the Municipal Council decided to assert its lights on “the Palace on tire Dam.” As it would entail huge expenses to transform this’ antique building into a suitable Town Hall, and as the Government would have had to build a new royal palace at Amsterdam, a deal was made and Amsterdam’s property rights on the “Palace on the Dam” were traded for a, contribution of 10,000,000 florins by the Government toward the costs of hu'lding a new Town Hall at Amsterdam. 1