Huis De Pinto: Buurthuis in Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.4

Huis De Pinto is a literary and cultural meeting centre in a white 17th-century townhouse at Sint Antoniesbreestraat 69, close to the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam. Go to swap a book in the exchange library, read the papers over a cheap coffee, or catch a concert, lecture or film. The house was built in 1605 and bought in 1651 by Isaac de Pinto, whose name it still carries. A crowd plundered it in the Aansprekersoproer of 1696. By the 19th century it held a fabric warehouse, and it later slid into decay. The city bought it in 1968 intending to knock it down for offices and a four-lane road, but the Stichting De Pinto saved and restored it, with help from Queen Juliana among others. A branch of the public library moved in from 1975. When the library was due to close, local residents campaigned to keep the house for the neighbourhood. Since February 2014 it has been run by around 90 volunteers. The programme takes in book presentations, coffee concerts, underground cinema, courses and exhibitions, as well as an Alzheimer Café. The reading room seats about 40 and the back room about 20, and both can be hired, with a piano on hand and weddings possible, though not parties. Access for wheelchair users is limited.