Beurs van Berlage
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The Beurs van Berlage is a building on the Damrak, in the center of Amsterdam. It was designed as a commodity exchange by architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and constructed between 1896 and 1903. It influenced many modernist architects, in particular functionalists and the Amsterdam School. It is now used as a conference venue.
The building is constructed of red brick, with an iron and glass roof and stone piers, lintels and corbels. Its entrance is under a large clock tower, while inside lie three large multi-story halls formerly used as trading floors, with offices and communal facilities grouped around them.
The aim of the architect was to reject the styles of the past. To the modern eye, it may still appear a little fussy, but at the time, most apparent were its sweeping planes and open plan interiors. It has stylistic similarities with some earlier buildings, for instance St Pancras station, but there the functional train shed was disguised by a neo-Gothic facade.nl:Beurs van Berlage