De Pijp grew rapidly south of Amsterdam’s historic centre, where speculative nineteenth-century housing, crowded room rentals, market trade, and later waves of residents reshaped a district once labeled Wijk YY. Its dense streets, the Albert Cuyp market and low-lying Sarphatipark preserve that layered history.
Quick facts
Amsterdam City Archives records that two unfinished houses on Ferdinand Bolstraat collapsed on 21 September 1876, bringing down a third.
The Albert Cuypstraat follows the line of the former Zaagmolensloot, which the city walking-history account says was filled in 1890.
Sarphatipark lies lower than the surrounding neighborhood; Amsterdam's municipality says an 1884 pumping station keeps it dry.
Get directions to De Pijp. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
De Pijp is not a single monument but a dense residential district in Amsterdam-Zuid, south of the historic centre. Its name has no securely established origin: Amsterdam City Archives says that even the name's derivation is unknown. The district took shape during the city's nineteenth-century expansion. The city archive dates construction from 1875 and records the official administrative label as “Wijk YY.” The familiar name came later, and the archive does not claim to know why it stuck.
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Sarphatipark
In De Pijp’s dense street grid, Sarphatipark offers a compact green pause. Its pond, low position, and monument to city reformer Samuel Sarphati make this small park a clear window into nineteenth-century urban change.
Albert Cuyp Market
Albert Cuyp Market grew from street trading in the expanding De Pijp into one of Amsterdam’s best-known markets. Its stalls occupy a former industrial waterway, and its history holds both the everyday ingenuity of vendors and the rupture of wartime persecution.
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Museumplein
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