Michel de Klerk

Architect Michel de Klerk is the big inspirator of the Dutch architecture.

Michel de Klerk was born into a large, poor Jewish family on the Zwanenburgwal in 1884. He began his career at fourteen, when he was discovered at school by the architect Eduard Cuypers. Cuypers noticed De Klerk's talent for drawing from his skilful copies of the drawings by his teacher. As an apprentice draughtsman for Cuypers, De Klerk developed friendships with Piet Kramer and Jo van der Mey. The three laid the foundation for the Amsterdam School. After starting off on his own in 1911, De Klerk established his reputation by designing a series of apartment buildings in Amsterdam, commissioned in part by the housing associations Eigen Haard and De Dageraad. Many were flabbergasted and considered De Klerk's disregard for traditions and longstanding principles sheer lunacy. Partly because he never wrote, he was viewed by his fans him as an intangible genius, who directed the design of the modern, dynamic and massive city. The tribute at De Klerk's sudden death strongly reflects the despair over the loss of this source of inspiration,

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