De drie Hendricken

De Drie Hendricken is not a café or bar. It is a row of three matching 17th-century stepped-gable houses at Bloemgracht 87, 89 and 91 in Amsterdam’s Jordaan. They were built in 1642 and are owned by the heritage organisation Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser. You see them from the street, since they are private homes and not open to the public. The draw is the three painted gable stones: De Steeman (the townsman), De Landman (the farmer) and De Seeman (the sailor).

What it is	Three 17th-century canal houses (a protected monument ensemble)
Address	Bloemgracht 87, 89 and 91, 1016 KH Amsterdam (Jordaan)
Built	1642, Amsterdam Renaissance style, with stepped gables
Owner	Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser (acquired 1927–1929)
Heritage status	Rijksmonumenten 531, 532 and 533 (designated 1970)
Can you go inside?	No. These are private homes, so you view them from the street.
Cost	Free to view from the street
Nearest tram stop	Westermarkt (trams 13 and 17), about a 5-minute walk
Time needed	5–10 minutes, or longer as part of a Jordaan walk

What De Drie Hendricken is

The three houses have almost identical façades. Each has a stepped gable with natural-stone bands and blocks, a date stone reading ANNO 1642, and a gable stone set into the frieze. Below the gables are a projecting beam and a wooden ground-floor front with leaded cross windows and shutters. That ground-floor front was reconstructed in 1946–47 from traces found in the building.

The houses are a clear example of the Amsterdam zaalhuis, a house type built around a tall front room with a recessed hearth and a raised parlour. Heritage specialists value the trio as a teaching example of 17th-century city architecture. In 1970 each house was listed separately as a national monument (rijksmonument).

What the name means

“De Drie Hendricken” means “The Three Hendricks” (English Wikipedia uses “The Three Henries”). The heritage sources we checked don’t explain where the name comes from. You will find stories online about three brothers, a builder called Hendrick, or women associated with Rembrandt, but we couldn’t confirm any of them, so treat them as unverified. The owner, Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser, is named after the architect Hendrick de Keyser. Don’t assume that link explains the house name, though: the houses were only acquired in the late 1920s.

The three gable stones

The gable stones are what most people stop to photograph. From left to right as numbered:

House	Gable stone	Meaning
Bloemgracht 87	De Steeman	The townsman (city life)
Bloemgracht 89	De Landman	The farmer (rural life)
Bloemgracht 91	De Seeman	The sailor (life at sea)

Many people assume the figures show the jobs of the first residents, but they don’t. They stand for three ways of life in 17th-century Dutch society. The names on the bottom edges of the stones were added in later centuries.

The current colours were chosen during restoration by sculptor Wil Abels, based on 17th-century paintings by artists including Pieter de Hooch, Adriaen van Ostade and Jan Steen.

A short history of the houses

• 1642: the three houses are built on the Bloemgracht.
• Early 1900s: the buildings have badly deteriorated.
• 1927–1929: Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser buys them.
• 1942–1947: architect Jan de Meijer carries out a full restoration. He rebuilds the 17th-century layout, including the tall front room, spiral staircase, parlour and lower kitchen, and replaces the 19th-century shopfronts with reconstructed cross windows. Restoring the houses to their supposed original state was debated among conservationists at the time.
• 1970: the three houses are listed as rijksmonumenten 531, 532 and 533.

How to get there

Take tram 13 or 17 to Westermarkt, the same stop you would use for the Anne Frank House and the Westerkerk. From there, walk into the Jordaan and head for the Bloemgracht, one block south of the Egelantiersgracht and north of the Rozengracht. Nos. 87–91 are on the south side of the canal. The walk takes about five minutes. From Amsterdam Centraal, walking takes roughly 20 minutes. Tap in and out on the tram with a contactless bank card or phone (OVpay).

For navigation apps, use “Bloemgracht 89, Amsterdam” or the coordinates 52.3743, 4.8797. There is no sign, entrance or ticket desk. The date stones and gable stones are how you know you’ve found it.

Tips for visiting

• Keep in mind that people live here. Don’t sit on the steps, lean on the windows or photograph inside the homes.
• For the best photo of all three gables, stand on the opposite (north) quay. Cars and bikes often block the ground floors, so be patient or come early in the day.
• Watch the bike traffic. Step fully off the road to take photos and never stop in a bike lane.
• Combine it with the Anne Frank House, the Westerkerk and a walk through the Jordaan hofjes. Make it one stop on a route rather than a destination of its own.

Brown cafés near the Bloemgracht

If you came here looking for a traditional brown café (bruin café), there are real ones a few minutes’ walk away. Opening hours change, so check each café’s own website before you go.

Café	Address	Why go
Café Chris	Bloemstraat 42	Open since 1624 and the oldest café in the Jordaan, one street south of the Bloemgracht
Café ’t Smalle	Egelantiersgracht 12	A late-18th-century former jenever distillery with a well-known waterside terrace

Want more options? See our guide to Amsterdam’s best brown cafés and the Jordaan neighbourhood guide.

Frequently asked questions