History

Kerkstraat was built in 1665 when the city was being expanded. During the Golden Age, it was a place where affluent upper-class citizens living on Keizersgracht built their carriage houses and stables. The original plan was to construct a web of four churches, but only two of them were actually built.

Kerkstraat 132, which used to be a carriage house, is now a listed building. It has an original gable end. Until 2015, the building housed Lambiek, a well-known comic shop and sequential art gallery. The ground floor of Kerkstraat 134 was a shop and the upper floors were used as living quarters. Both properties were built around 1864.

Reguliersdwarsstraat was built in 1586 when the city was being expanded. The most expensive houses were built on Herengracht, behind Reguliersdwarsstraat: in the ‘Golden Bend’. The carriage houses were built on Reguliersdwarsstraat and connected to the canal-side properties via a garden. In the late 19th century, the carriage houses were converted into garages, and small shops and cafés started to appear. Since the 1970s, increasingly more restaurants have opened here.