Beaver, butcher and master of wine: how Amsterdam used to number at home

Long before numbering appeared in every house in Amsterdam, the city had a very interesting way of assigning an address. Each building had its own special board, which was called a pediment stone. It was told in paints about what kind of house it is. So, if there was a butcher’s shop in the building, then the slaughter of the cow was depicted on the plate, but if there was an office for meat inspectors, the pediment stone told in detail how officials in dressing gowns examined the quality of meat. Often, the pediment stones did not have one image, but a whole chain depicting in detail what function the building had: for example, the paper mill had a tablet that showed the production of paper in stages, and winemakers had steps to make wine.

Fronton stones were especially useful in the Middle Ages, when few could read or write. Any person could easily understand what was in the building or who owned it: the writer always had a feather, and the sailor had a ship. Later tablets began to appear that served as a special charm for the house: quotes from the Holy Scriptures, mottos praising the honor of the owner or his status. There were also such residents who approached the pediment stones with humor: usually funny puns flaunted on them.

Since 1875, Amsterdam began to introduce the numbering of houses, tablets have lost their meaning. However, they can be seen to this day. So, only in the capital of the Netherlands there are about 850 pediment stones, and throughout the country there are more than one and a half thousand.