Featured : The Amsterdam Lodging House
Since 2004 the House of Representatives uses the so-called Amsterdam Lodging House (Logement van Amsterdam) in the Plein in The Hague, the former residence of Amsterdam’s deputies to the States of Holland. Learn more about the history of this building.
Since 2004 the House of Representatives uses the so-called Amsterdam Lodging House (Logement van Amsterdam) in the Plein in The Hague, the former residence of Amsterdam’s deputies to the States of Holland. The House of Representatives reopened the fully refurbished building in 2004 and has been using it as office space and for parliamentary hearings ever since. The city of Amsterdam had the house built in 1743, to replace the dilapidated premises on the same site. In the 19th century the imposing building served, among other things, as a royal palace. In the 20th century it housed the ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Meetings
By the end of the 16th century the States of Holland decided to hold their meetings in The Hague. In the 17th and 18th centuries, each of the seven united provinces constituting the Dutch Republic had its own government, called the States (Staten), representing the nobility and the cities entitled to vote. The deputies sometimes had to stay in The Hague for a longer period of time. They used to stay in boarding houses or private houses and ate in restaurants, where a lot of alcohol was consumed. More than once, deputies leaked information about the meetings, which were never public. That is why in 1670 the States of Holland decreed that all cities entitled to vote had to acquire a lodging house of their own in The Hague.
Close to the Inner Court
At the time the meetings of the States of Holland already took place in the Inner Court (Binnenhof). The lodging houses of the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leyden, Gouda and five smaller North-Holland cities were all situated close to the Inner Court. The seven provinces were represented in the States-General (Staten-Generaal), who also held their sittings in the Inner Court, but not that often. That is why the provinces did not have a logement in The Hague.
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