Amsterdam Slum, 1899

Snapshot is an ongoing series revealing the story behind a single picture from the archives.

The original title refers to Foeliestraat 28, near the Oostelijke Eilandan, as the address where the picture was taken, but unfortunately, nothing recognisable remains today.

This photograph was taken by C.J. Schmidt for the health service in preparation for an uninhabitable declaration. Between 1830 and 1900, Amsterdam's population grew from 202,000 to 520,000. The city was not prepared for such an increase and was quickly overpopulated, with the lower classes displaced and living in appalling conditions in the Jordan and Oostelijke Eilandan districts. The emergence of these districts led to a strong growth of socialism between 1880 and 1890, culminating in weekly tensions between the inhabitants and the authorities. The original title refers to Foeliestraat 28, near the Oostelijke Eilandan, as the address where the picture was taken, but unfortunately, nothing recognisable remains today.

The municipal health service was created in 1893, and in 1896 it was mandated to perform housing condition studies in order to improve workers' living conditions. The collapse of several houses in 1899 led to an increase in these inspections. The health service was led by Dr. R. H. Saltet with a medical and scientific perspective.

At the time social hygiene referred to the medical discipline that would address the material dimension of the social problem such as housing. This approach soon fell out of favour with the increase of technical expertise regarding buildings and urban planning shifted to engineers and architects. 𖨠