Gable stone wall (Sint Luciënsteeg)

A wall of house signs

Sint Luciënsteeg is a narrow alley beside the Amsterdam Museum, just off Kalverstraat. Most people walk past the entrance without a glance. Look along the wall and you will see stone tablets set into the brick, one beside another, each carved or painted with a picture.

These are gable stones. Each one once sat on the front of an Amsterdam house. Here a collection of them has been saved and set together at eye level, so you can stand close and read them.

It takes ten minutes and costs nothing. It is worth the detour because it explains something you will keep noticing for the rest of your walk: the small carved pictures above doors all over the old centre.

Addresses before numbers

Amsterdam's houses were not always known by a number. A picture on the front did the job. A house might be the one with the lion, the ship, the sheaf of wheat or the figure at work. You told a visitor to look for the sign, and that was the address.

The stones could also say something about the people inside. A trade, a family name, a proverb or a hope could all be cut into stone. They worked as a shop sign and a house name in one.

When old houses were pulled down or rebuilt, the stones were easily thrown out with the rubble. A wall like this one is a way of keeping them. The stones here have been taken from their original streets, so you get the pictures but not the places. That is part of what makes the wall a little strange.

To see stones still on their own houses, De Drie Hendricken on the Bloemgracht is a good example. Its three houses date from 1642, and the stones show a townsman, a farmer and a sailor.

What to look for

Go slowly and read the wall from one end to the other. Do not try to take it all in at once.

Look first for the simplest pictures: animals, plants, tools. These are the ones that worked as a name. Then look for the stones with more detail, such as small scenes with people, or lettering. Some carry a few words that tell you what the owner wanted to say.

Notice the stones themselves. Some are sharply cut and some are worn smooth. Some keep traces of paint and some are plain grey. They come from different houses and different centuries, and each has weathered in its own way.

Then look up when you walk back out into the streets. Gable stones are still there above doors, often higher than you expect, and often beside the number that replaced them. After this wall you will spot them everywhere.