Museum Het Schip is a social-housing complex in Amsterdam-West, designed by Michel de Klerk for Eigen Haard. Its wave-like brickwork earned the nickname “The Ship.” The museum occupies an incorporated former school and interprets the Amsterdam School, public housing and the restored neighborhood post office.
Quick facts
Michel de Klerk designed Het Schip for Eigen Haard, a housing association founded to improve homes for people with limited means.
Amsterdam City Archives records a 1916 tender and says the project, originally due in 1918, was handed over in 1920; the museum uses 1919 as its building date.
Het Schip incorporated an existing school and included a post office; today the museum is housed in the former school building.
Get directions to Museum Het Schip. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Museum Het Schip is housed in a former school within the Spaarndammerbuurt, a working-class neighborhood in Amsterdam-West. The surrounding complex still functions as housing, so the museum is one part of a lived-in building rather than a museum replica. Its nickname, “The Ship,” comes from a wedge-like outline and brickwork that seems to move in waves.
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