The municipality has transferred two buildings from the former Zuidergasfabriek in Amstelkwartier to Stadsherstel, the organisation that restores historic buildings.
They are the porter’s lodge and the assistant engineer’s house on the Korte Ouderkerkerdijk. Both are national monuments.
The transfer secures their future for now, and each will get a new function after restoration.
A gasworks for a growing city
The gasworks complex was built between 1907 and 1913 to designs by the city’s Public Works department.
It stood on the edge of the city at the time, beside the Amstel and close to the railway, so coal for making town gas could arrive by water or by train.
The gas was used for cooking and heating, among other things.
When Amsterdam switched from coal gas to natural gas in the 1960s, the complex lost its purpose. The city gives 1967 as the year it closed.
Many of the technical buildings, including the gasholder and purification plant, were later demolished.
What survives are mostly the buildings where people worked or lived.
Nine listed parts
The listed complex has nine parts: the water tower, the regulator building, the supervisor’s house, the management building, the engineer’s house, the porter’s building, the director’s house, the historic gate and the meter house.
According to the Cultural Heritage Agency, it is a relatively intact example of an early twentieth-century municipal utility.
The styles vary widely, with influences from Jugendstil and several historical revival styles, reflecting the different jobs the buildings did.
The porter’s lodge
The porter’s lodge at Korte Ouderkerkerdijk 47 dates from 1910. From here the porter watched everyone entering or leaving the site.
It is more richly built than a simple guardhouse, with a square floor plan, brick walls, a high natural stone base and an overhanging slate roof.
Part of the original Jugendstil-style entrance gate, separately listed as a national monument, stands next to it.
After restoration the lodge will become part of the neighbouring café-restaurant tHuis aan de Amstel.
What exactly will go inside has not been decided, but space is planned for a small terrace.
The assistant engineer’s house
Across the small harbour, at number 55-57, stands the assistant engineer’s house from 1911.
It has two storeys plus an attic floor, a high hipped roof, dormers, a bay window and a loggia with a balcony.
The stairwell windows have leaded glass.
Stadsherstel is looking for a restaurant or café operator whose plans suit both the monument and its surroundings.
Under the current schedule an operator will be chosen at the end of 2026, with restoration starting in early 2028 and finishing at the end of that year.
Water tower and director’s house
Stadsherstel took over the water tower in March 2026.
According to the Cultural Heritage Agency, it is the only surviving water tower in the Netherlands that belonged to a gasworks.
The organisation had already acquired and restored the former director’s house at Korte Ouderkerkerdijk 45.
The café-restaurant tHuis aan de Amstel has been there since 2014.
Management building for sale
One major building still needs a new owner: the former management building.
The city plans to sell it publicly, and it will be listed on the property site Funda.
The gatehouse and engineer’s house join a long line of Amsterdam monuments needing careful restoration, a subject taken further in this look at how the city’s heritage is preserved.
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