Keizersgracht 560 (Jacob van Lennep wandeling)

Keizersgracht 560 was the house where Jacob van Lennep lived for 33 years, until his death in 1868. He inherited it from his aunt Gonnevan Orsoy. He had the sidewalk demolished and thus got an extra window in the living room. He also had a 'secret' built (a toilet) and when, partly thanks to him, a water pipe came into Amsterdam, he was there like the chickens to connect his house. On the facade is a plaque, placed on his 100th birthday in 1902. If you peek into this office building, it is difficult to imagine the stylish house that it was, the study with library, the small theater where Van Lennep rehearsed for stage performances of, for example, Vondel's Lucifer. His office was full of papers, proofs, letters from friends, notes on history and notes for his work as a state attorney. He wrote many of his novels and plays with the quill pen here at a dilapidated work table. His wife kept chickens in the garden. Source: Marita Mathijsen, 'Deftige circles. Walk through the Amsterdam of Jacob van Lennep '. In: Ons Amsterdam 70 (2018) 7-8 (July-Aug), 40-45.