Question: What Are the Illustrated Stone Tablets on Some Amsterdam Façades?

Answer: Gevelstenen, Dutch for "façade stones", were used to mark addresses from the mid-16th century until house numbers were introduced. The vivid reliefs carved onto these stones referred to the businesses or families inside; often, the reliefs would contain an allusion the company name, the family coat of arms, or some other representative motif.

The stone on the Amsterdam canal house museum Huis Marseille, for example, depicts the port of Marseille, where the former homeowner, a French merchant, earned his fortunes. Some façade stones also reflect the spirituality of the inhabitants; one stone on the north side of Dam Square features Sinterklaas, the Dutch "Santa Claus" (pictured). To this day, I have spotted only one modern-day façade stone in Amsterdam, at Warmoesstraat 62, on the outskirts of De Wallen; subtitled In de War (Dutch for "confused"), it depicts a twisted piece of rope. Dutch sculptor Hans 't Mannetje, a façade stone revivalist of sorts, fabricated the stone and had it installed there in 2002.

As an architecture admirer, I keep a look-out for these façade stones whenever I'm in Amsterdam Center; these often overlooked stone tablets have much to tell about the history of the city's monumental townhouses. There's even an association of façade stone enthusiasts, appropriately called Friends of Amsterdam Façade Stones; their web site contains photos of some of the approximately 800 stones left in Amsterdam.

Other cities also have their share of façade stones; in Haarlem, for example, these façade stones are often all that's left of the innumerable breweries that provided the medieval populace with a sanitary source of hydration - yes, beer - in times when clean water was scarce.