Scheepvaarthuis, Amsterdam.
Johan (or Jan) Melchior van der Mey (August 19, 1878 Delfshaven - June 6, 1949, Geulle) was a Dutch architect, whose best-known work was the Scheepvaarthuis (Naval House) of Amsterdam (Prins Hendrikkade, 1012; GIS coordinates +52.374550 +4.903982).
Van der Mey studied with Eduard Cuypers since 1898, won the Dutch version of the Prix de Rome in 1906, and started working for the City Council of Amsterdam as an aesthetic adviser. In 1905 Amsterdam had been the first city in the world to impose a building code; so that the work of van der Mey became the artist of urban construction. Within his activity, among other works, he designed the facade of the Palm House of the Hortus Botanicus (1912).
That same year he got the commission from Scheepvaarthuis, a large cooperative building for six Dutch shipping companies. Van der Mey sought the help of his former colleagues Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer. Another architect (A.D.N. van Gendt) was commissioned to design the engineering for the structure.
The part of the work that Van der Mey was responsible for was coordinating the extensive symbolic and sculptural program, both external and internal. The majority was the work of the sculptors Hildo Krop and H.A. van den Eijnde, although a large number of well-known artists participated.
The Scheepvaarthuis is the masterpiece of the Amsterdam School of Architecture. Michel de Klerk became his most important representative. Van der Mey also designed bridges and residential complexes in the south of and around Mercatorplein.
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