Episode 44 ：Houseboat, a House or a Boat?

Large living room, spacious bedroom and roomy bathroom. It might be an ideal house to spend a comfortable time in.

In Amsterdam, the thing is different. Since 17th century, Dutch East India Company brought a huge quantity of various goods to Amsterdam. The wealthy people who gained from transactions started to competitively built gorgeous houses alongside canals. The government that recognised the phenomenon decided to impose “a frontage tax” on the canal houses.

So, people turned this over in their mind, and they built the houses with the diminution in its frontage so as to economise the tax. As a result, the depth of the houses lengthened in order to keep their goods which occupied half part of their houses. Apparently, it was very difficult to bring up the furnitures and goods by staircase. People fixed a hook on the front wall of house so as to bring them into the room from outside.

This kind of brilliant idea will be found everywhere in Amsterdam. A houseboat is one of them. People who couldn’t get a house on land found a place to live on the water. Many canals run through the city. They fix a boat on the canal sides and apply it as a house.They get an address, and they can use water and electric systems.

At first, houseboats were the residence of poor people who couldn’t get a house on land. However, because of a high cost to manage them and a lack of space for its popularity, houseboats came to be difficult to apply for. Consequently, the property price, though houseboats can move, has soared.

In 2019, Schoonship, a sustainable waterfront village, was built on a canal in northern Amsterdam. Most of the houseboats have two stories and a roof garden. Domestic drainage is cleaned and reused for their gardens. Solar power supplies electric to the inhabitants and they buy and sell to each other by their virtual currency, “Juliette”.

Now, houseboats have became luxury villas.

※毎月1日、15日に掲載予定です。
※この記事は、The Traveler’s Time vol.3に収録。

第44話　ハウスボートは家かボートか？

広々としたリビングルーム、ゆったりとした寝室とバスルーム。それは、快適な時間を過ごすのに理想の部屋かもしれない。

ところが、アムステルダムでは事情が異なるようだ。17世紀以来、オランダ東インド会社はこの街に莫大な量のありとあらゆる商品を持ち込んだ。さまざまな取引で富を得た裕福な人々は、競い合うように運河沿いに豪邸を建てた。こうした動向を察知したアムステルダム市は、運河沿いの邸宅に『間口税』を課すことを決定。そのため、人々は知恵をめぐらし、節税のために間口の狭い家を建てた。結果として、住居内の半分を占める家財を収納するために家の奥行きが伸びることになってしまった。どうみても、階段から家財を運ぶこむのは難しそうだ。そこで、ファサードの壁にフックを取り付け、外から部屋の中へ運び込むことにしたのである。