Gerrit A. van Arkel was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 who designed many of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

's most prominent Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) buildings.

Van Arkel moved to Amsterdam in 1883 to become an architect. His designs initially mixed neogothic and neorenaissance styles but, from about 1894, he adopted a sobre version of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). This sobre style of Jugendstil, influenced by the work of H. P. Berlage

Hendrik Petrus Berlage

thumb|120px|left|BerlageHendrik Petrus Berlage, Amsterdam, 21 February 1856 — The Hague 12 August 1934, was a prominent Dutch architect.-Overview:...

, was known as the Nieuwe Stijl ("New Style").

Van Arkel designs are characterized by the frequent use of bay window

Bay window

A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...

s and loggia

Loggia

Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...

s, as well as asymmetrically placed balconies, towers and domes.

His design for the Helios building won third prize at the architectural competition of the 1900 World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Twelve of his buildings in Amsterdam were designated national monuments in 2001. The Asscher diamond factory has also been nominated for national monument status, and another 17 buildings in Amsterdam have been nominated to become municipal monuments.

Buildings

Van Arkel's Jugendstil buildings in Amsterdam include:

• The Asscher diamond factory on Tolstraat (1907), where the world's largest diamond, the Cullinan Diamond
  Cullinan Diamond
  The Cullinan diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at .The largest polished gem from the stone is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at was the largest polished diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond, , also from the...
  
  , was cut.
• The Diamond Exchange on Weesperplein square (1911)
• The Helios building on Spui
  Spui (Amsterdam)
  The Spui is a square in the centre of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Spui was originally a body of water that formed the southern limit of the city until the 1420s, when the Singel canal was dug as an outer moat around the city. In 1882 the Spui was filled in and became the square that we know...
  
   square (1895/1896).
• The Astoria office building of the Eerste Hollandsche Levensverzekerings Bank on Keizersgracht canal (1904/1905)
• The office building of The Marine Insurance Company Limited on the Rokin
  Rokin
  Rokin is a major street in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Originally it was part of the river Amstel, and was known then as Rak-in . When the quays along the Rokin were constructed in 1913, they were named after the water which they adjoined.The Rokin begins at Muntplein square and ends at Dam square...
  
   (1901).
• The bakery of D.C. Stähle on Spuistraat (1898).

Sources

• Amsterdam Bureau of Monuments & Archeology (Dutch) with photos
• Jewish Historical Museum
• Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, 1919 (Dutch)