Piet Zanstra
Illustration — Caransa Hotel Piet Zanstra (1905-2003) was a Dutch architect who designed a number of important buildings in Amsterdam in the post-World War II period. He is best known, perhaps, for his Maupoleum, which was demolished in 1994, and for the Caransa Hotel, which still stands on the Rembrandtplein.
Also recorded as P. Zanstra
Piet Zanstra

Choinowski · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1905 · Leeuwarden.
- Died
- 2003 · Amsterdam.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Occupation
- architect · painter
- Known for
- Panoramaflat · Caransa Hotel · Maupoleum · Europarking Amsterdam
- Honours
- Dr. H.P. Berlageprijs
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Illustration — Caransa Hotel Piet Zanstra (1905-2003) was a Dutch architect who designed a number of important buildings in Amsterdam in the post-World War II period. He is best known, perhaps, for his Maupoleum, which was demolished in 1994, and for the Caransa Hotel, which still stands on the Rembrandtplein.
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Note VALÉORINE
Piet Zanstra (1905–2003) was a Dutch architect and painter. Born in Leeuwarden, the architect died in Amsterdam.
Piet Zanstra worked for Zanstra, Giesen and Sijmons and was a member of Group 32. The architect worked in Amsterdam.
Works include Caransa Hotel, Europarking Amsterdam, Maupoleum and Panoramaflat. Works by Piet Zanstra are held at Nieuwe Instituut.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2896048 · wikipedia · Piet Zanstra
In this article
Biography
Biography
Places of work recorded in the authority are Amsterdam. Employment is recorded with Zanstra, Giesen and Sijmons. Works named in the authority record are Panoramaflat, Caransa Hotel, Maupoleum and Europarking Amsterdam. Work by Piet Zanstra is recorded in the collections of Nieuwe Instituut. Distinctions recorded are Dr.
Zanstra was born in Leeuwarden, on 7 August 1905. He studied hydraulics there and became apprenticed to an architect. Soon he worked with notable architects such as W. M. Dudok and J. P. Kloos, and in 1932 started a design studio with Jan Giesen and Karel Sijmons. With them he built a combined studio/apartment building on the Zomerdijkstraat in Amsterdam, now hailed as an early example of what in Dutch architecture is called Nieuwe Bouwen. With his two colleagues Zanstra belonged to an architects' society called Group '32, a gathering of functionalist architects who were inspired by Le Corbusier in particular. He founded ZZDP in 1954, which became one of the largest architectural firms in the country in the 1960s and 1970s and built such notable buildings as the Rembrandt Tower.
Notable buildings
Notable buildings
• Artists' studios and apartments on the Zomerdijkstraat, in the Amsterdam neighborhood Rivierenbuurt (1934, with Jan Giessen and Karel Sijmons). • Europarking, parking garage on the Marnixstraat, Amsterdam (1971, with Ab Gmelig Meyling and Peter de Clercq Zubli) • The Maupoleum or 'Burgemeester Tellegenhuis' in Amsterdam, built 1971. Public opinion on this office building was overwhelmingly negative, and by the time it was demolished in 1994 it was known as 'the ugliest building of Amsterdam'.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Zomerdijkstraat, north face • Illustration — Zomerdijkstraat, south face • Illustration — Church • Illustration — Ramps, Europarking • Illustration — Hervormde Kerk De Ark, Slotervaart, Amsterdam Nieuw-West

Walterbos Complex in Apeldoorn met kantoorgebouwen voor de belastingdienst.
Choinowski

Herengracht 48. Interieur pand van de heer en mevrouw Zanstra, architect en beeldend kunstenaar, 1997
Fotodienst Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Martin Alberts · Herengracht 48
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1905
Piet Zanstra was born on 7 August 1905.
2003
Piet Zanstra died on 23 May 2003.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Leeuwarden.
Birth place
Amsterdam.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Piet Zanstra”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2896048: Piet Zanstra
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Heuvel, D. van den. The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement: Proceedings of the 10th International DOCOMOMO Conference. IOS Press. 540. 2008. 9781607503712.
- 2.Buurman, Marlies. Piet Zanstra 1905 - 2003. ArchiNed. 28 May 2003.
- 3.Nederlands Architectuurinstituut. Piet Zanstra, 07-08-1905 - 23-05-2003. Treasures of the NAI.
- 4.Mens, Noor. ZZDP Architects-Entrepreneurs.
- 5.Atelierwoningen Zomerdijkstraat, Piet Zanstra, Jan Giesen, Karel Sijmons Dzn., Amsterdam. architectuurgids.nl.
- 6.Parkeergarage Europarking, Piet Zanstra, Ab Gmelig Meyling, Peter de Clercq Zubli, Amsterdam. architectuurgids.nl.
- 7.'Het Maupoleum stond op een verkeerde plek', door Bernard Hulsman, NRC Handelsblad, 11 april 1997
- 8.Het lelijkste gebouw van Amsterdam, of: het lijk in het Maupoleum , amsterdamsdagblad.nl, 31 maart 2017
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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