‘Have faith, it has already come to pass’, the house survived the 1916 flood… Zeilenmakerspad 3 is a beautifully symmetrical house built around 1750, and originally located in Zaandam. It sustained considerable damage in the 1916 flood, but fortunately much of the authentic interior was preserved. A pious text appears above the ‘dooddeur’ (‘death door’, a door at the front of a house traditionally used only when there was a death in the household and the casket had to be carried out of the house for the funeral): ‘Have faith, it has already come to pass’. The actual front door is just around the corner (‘around the back’, as it were), in a small extension housing a bell and the letterbox. Just as with all of the paths, there are ‘bleekveldjes’ (‘bleaching fields’) behind the green fences along the ditch. These fields were where the washing was dried and bleached. Although the building was initially in poor condition, it contained so many typical Zaan features that it was considered worthy of restoration and preservation in the Zaanse Schans. Thorough research yielded a great deal of information that enabled the house to be restored almost completely to its original state, and made suitable for use as a contemporary, comfortable home. The house has retained all of its old charm, and still radiates the look and feel of the 18th century.

The wooden house from Sint Cathrijnepad 1-2, on its way to Zeilenmakerspad 3 at the Zaanse Schans