Dovecote

Dovecote was originally the nickname, later becoming a commonly known designation, of two high-altitude buildings that used to be in Amsterdam-Centrum but, after losing their original function, have been relocated in Amsterdam-Zuid. The nickname Dovecote for both "houses" originated from the resemblance to a (traditional) dovecote. This article is about the Dovecote of the Muntplein, relocated to the Van Nijenrodeweg.

At the end of 1949, a building designed by Piet Kramer, who works for the Public Works Department, appeared on Muntplein. The metal "house" with a mushroom-shaped roof hung from a metal leg with a good view of the traffic situation from above. The cottage was accessed from the square by a spiral staircase upstairs. From this cottage, the traffic police operated the traffic lights at this complicated intersection. In the seventies, the house became superfluous because the traffic lights could then be controlled from a central location. In the eighties the house was removed there.

In 1992 it was relocated as a monumental building to a place next to the Museumtramlijn at the main entrance of the Amsterdamse Bos. It stands next to the Jacob Heinen bridge (bridge 503, over the Hoornsloot), in the central reservation of the Van Nijenrodeweg.

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