The little golden beehives on the garden fence show that the family Honig once lived here… Zonnewijzerspad 7 was originally built in around 1750, and comes from Zaandijk. This house was transported to the Zaanse Schans in 1965, suspended between two crane trucks. This was a remarkable sight, and the relocation attracted numerous spectators. The Honig (meaning ‘honey’) family once lived here. This wealthy and renowned Zaan family was known for producing paper bearing the beehive as watermark. For this reason, the wrought iron garden fence bears little gilded beehives: the family’s symbol. One of the residents of this house was Neeltje Mulder, widow of historian and collector Jacob Honig Jansz. Jr., whose accumulated items provided the initial foundation for the Zaans Museum collection. Neeltje Mulder was famous in her own right due to her book of memoirs, ‘In den goeden ouden tijd’ (‘In the good old days’), in which she recounts memories from her life in the early 19^th century. In it, she writes of the house that it was ‘certainly not the largest, but definitely the most pleasant house’ in Zaandijk. Whilst the building’s architectural style reflects a transition between classicism and romanticism, the carvings on the eaves were added later, in around 1850. The ‘overhoekse’ (diagonal) windows, in particular, catch the eye. Fitted in each corner of the ‘Zuidkamertje’ (‘South room’), these windows provided a good view of the outdoors.

The Honig family’s home, en route from Zaandijk to the Zaanse Schans