Bridge keeper’s houses

Though you’d hardly expect it, these houses were once occupied by bridge keepers who literally waited inside to open and close the bridges. Centralization made the bridge keepers superfluous and the houses – all designed by well-known architects (!) – lost their original purpose. By transforming them into mini-suites, SWEETS has been able to give this incredible industrial heritage a beautiful new purpose. The oldest house that has been transformed dates back to 1673 (!) while the most recent one comes from 2009. This range of dates marks one of the main reasons each location represents various architectural styles – each telling a unique story. In order to match their outer differences, each suite has also been given a specifically designed interior!

Location Buiksloterdraaibrug

You will find the 28 tiny sweets scattered at special places all throughout the city. This not only relieves some of the enormous pressure on the city center, but also allows other areas of Amsterdam to be discovered. This is such a great thing because we love exploring new places! However, choosing from so many different houses, each with its own style, can prove to be difficult. On SWEETS website, you can open a map showing all locations. By clicking on a house, you pull up more information and photos of each spot. After extensively studying all options, we chose No. 103 – Buiksloterdraaibrug, in North. This house was designed in 1984 by Ingenieursbureau Amsterdam (IBA) according to structuralism – this is, according to my Google session, closely related in architecture to a small-scale building. The structuralists believed that a building should enable human activities and promote social contacts. Sounds like a logical choice in this case, right?

Idyllic Amsterdam North

We ourselves had never paid a good visit to Amsterdam-Noord and were pleasantly surprised when we walked into the neighborhood. This cottage is perhaps in the most idyllic area of ​​the city. Along the street are picturesque houses with a historic Dutch character. A beautiful lake with lots of greenery and an 18th-century mill completes the picture. We highly recommend the location alone!

Check-in

This particular house is fairly easy to reach by public transport. From metro station Noord, it is about a kilometer walk – luckily the neighborhood is quite lovely! With hotel rooms spread throughout the city, there obviously is no central reception. Because of this, everything is completely self-service. Upon your arrival, you will receive a very clear email, with a personal code to unlock the house. All you need is a smartphone with Bluetooth and you’re good to go. Easy-peasy!

Minimalist hotel room

As you can see from the pictures, the exterior of the house may not be the most beautiful, standing out a bit like a sore thumb in the idyllic setting. The inside, on the other hand, wow! By making smart use of the small number of square meters, this concept fits perfectly into the popular Tiny House Movement. Our minimalist hotel room of 14m² has a Japanese-inspired interior (so beautiful!) And because of the large windows all around, you have an unobstructed view over a small lake. This amazing view also makes the sweet seem bigger than it actually is.

Although you do not have much room to move, you can walk all around thanks to the design. It is very practically furnished, with everything in the middle of the house. The spacious double bed, the kitchen, and the bathroom. The latter two are hardly noticeable because they are located together in a large block. If you open the doors on one side of the block, you are in the bathroom. On the other side, you have a small ‘kitchenette’ with the most important essentials. You will not be able to cook in this cozy space, but fortunately, there are plenty of fun things to do in the area. And in the summer months, the terrace in front of the house makes a perfect place for a picnic by the water.

The next morning: breakfast!

For only € 35, an extensive breakfast can be delivered to your door! For those more interested in seeing what the neighborhood has to offer, there is also a tablet available, on which you can find recommendations in the area. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time in the morning – we still had some content to create – so we opted for delivery. Of course, there are plenty of options for that too! In addition to this neighborhood guide, you will also find Netflix and digital newspapers on this tablet.

Something for everyone

Are you a light sleeper, or does your favorite book need all of your undisturbed attention? Then choose a house in a quiet neighborhood. Would you like more space and to be able to cook yourself? Then book # 206 ‘Amstelschutsluis’ on a – really – private island! Are you planning to discover the center? Then you know where to look. The sweets may be small, but the concept is absolutely grand. We definitely plan on booking another house!

→ This article was written in collaboration with SWEETS hotel. We were allowed to stay here for free, in exchange for content. Of course, you can read our own opinion here!