Byleth-Holthuizen Museum

About

This canal house on the Herengracht is built between 1685 and 1687 for Jacob Hop, pensionary of Amsterdam. Around 1739 its facade is remodeled in the fashionable Louis XIV style, and ownership passes through several merchant and regent families, including the Deutz and Berenwout families, in the years that follow. The couple who give the house its present name are the art collectors Abraham Willet (1828-1888) and Louisa Holthuysen (1824-1895), who fill the residence with an extensive collection of silver, ceramics, glass, furniture, books, and artworks. When Louisa dies in 1895, she bequeaths the house and its entire collection to the city of Amsterdam, on the condition that it become a museum bearing both their names. The museum opens on 1 May 1896, with Frans Coenen serving as its first curator until 1931. From 1939 to 1950 the house closes for eleven years while under joint management with the Stedelijk Museum. In 2022 its name changes from "Museum" to "Huis (House) Willet-Holthuysen." The basement level still holds a French-style garden laid out in 1972 alongside the original kitchen, while the Blue Room displays portraits of former owners and decorative work by Jacob de Wit, carrying traces of the house's long history.