Saturday Photo Hunt – Narrow

One of the things that was difficult to get used to when I moved to the Netherlands was how narrow the houses are here.  Like in this photo I took in Amsterdam in 1999.

Mom Houses

It’s easy to understand, with such a huge population in such a small space.   Over 16.5 million people in a country that is slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey.   Of that 16.5 million people, almost 600,000 live our city of Rotterdam, being beaten only by Amsterdam at almost 750,000.

Another thing that factors into the lack of space is the amount of water here.   A portion of every city in the Netherlands is taken up by water, whether it’s Amsterdam’s canals or Rotterdam’s harbours and while many people do actually live on the water in houseboats and the like, it does cut back on the space we have to build on.

It’s part of the charm here though, isn’t it?   The Netherlands just wouldn’t be the same without our crazy narrow houses.

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8 comments

  1. Great photo. I never knew how narrow the houses in the Netherlands were. Very interesting.

  2. wow! you have a very nice picture and I love the way you put consistency of the picture, indeed you have a great post! keep it up!!!

    here’s mine:
    photohunt-1
    photohunt-2
    Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

  3. I thought it was Venice when I saw the photo, very nice post.

  4. I am under the charme of these narrow houses!

  5. The narrowest house in the world can be found at Singel 7 in Am’dam. It’s only one meter in breadth, and barely wider than the front door.

    In the 17th century houses were built narrow and high because there was tax on the width of the buildings. Quite often, you’ll find the houses are narrow at the front, but broaden out to normal size towards the back.

  6. I wonder if that kind of house is comfortable to live with lol~ Have a great weekend~
    NARROW FEED THE ROAD

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