The Narrow Canal Houses
Have you ever visited an older home in The Netherlands and looked in horror at the steep staircase that you somehow had to traverse without breaking a body part? “Stairs” translated to Dutch is literally “trap”, which makes total sense. Why are they so steep? Were the Dutch trying to discourage having guests? No, nothing like that. As usual, the Dutch were being practical.
Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, homes were taxed on their width due to the lack of land to build on. Therefore, if you can’t go wide, you go high, but with a very narrow house you don’t want to sacrifice living area for stairs. Hence, stairs were built almost vertically, very steep and narrow. The problem with this was moving any kind of furniture to the upper floors. The Dutch had a solution for that as well. Homes were built with a gable (or peaked) roof and a pulley, which was used to hoist items to the upper floors. The windows were easily removed or opened widely to allow for furniture to be moved in.
Old Dutch houses may be very narrow, but they have huge windows, and rarely any kind of blinds or curtains. This dates back to the 17th century as well, when Calvinist values had a firm grip on every aspect of society. The idea was that if you were a moral person, you would have nothing to hide, and so your home should be open for all to see. Today people still don’t use window coverings very often, more because they take advantage of any natural light and enjoy watching the world go by outside the window.
Building codes have changed over the years, and these steep staircases have been relegated to the past. Climbing up and down them took some practice, as the treads were often only 15cm wide. One had to turn sideways, grip the handrail or rope, and go one step at a time. And never, ever wear socks, as this turns into a slipping hazard. Distractions like looking at your phone, which wouldn’t have been an issue centuries ago, is also not a good idea.
These houses are iconic Dutch, and very beautiful, but I’m sure we can all agree that it is a lot easier to just have the modern stairs we are accustomed to. And maybe an elevator.
