Jan Messchert van Vollenhoven

Jan Messchert van Vollenhoven was born in Amsterdam on 6 October 1812. His father Antoni Jan van Vollenhoven owned the De Gekroonde Valk brewery and had sat in the Assembly of Notables in 1814. Jan was related to half of Amsterdam's ruling class: former mayor Fredrik van de Poll was his uncle, and he was also family of Gerlach van Reenen.

A lawyer in the city's service

He studied law in Leiden, took his doctorate in 1834 and became a lawyer in Amsterdam. He then worked at the court as deputy clerk and deputy prosecutor. In 1851 he joined the city council and became an alderman, and from 1853 he served on the provincial executive of North Holland. A royal decree of 10 April 1858 made him mayor of Amsterdam, succeeding Boot.

A glass palace on the Frederiksplein

During his time as mayor the Paleis voor Volksvlijt, or Palace of Industry, rose on the Frederiksplein: a vast glass and iron hall based on Samuel Sarphati's idea. Construction began on 7 September 1859 in the presence of King William III, and it opened on 16 August 1864. Messchert van Vollenhoven sat on the palace's supervisory board himself. He also chaired the board of the Vondelpark, the new park on the edge of the city, and was a commissioner of the Entrepotdok, the city's bonded warehouse dock.

He was a conservative and a devout Protestant, an elder of the Walloon church in Amsterdam and chairman of the Netherlands Bible Society. From 1864 he combined being mayor with a seat in the Senate. In 1866 he stepped down; his biography cites domestic circumstances and the burden of the office.

Afterwards

Messchert van Vollenhoven stayed in the Senate until 1873 and then spent four years in the House of Representatives for Utrecht. He voted against abolishing the death penalty in 1870 and questioned the government in 1874 about the war in Aceh. He also chaired the supervisory board of the Holland Iron Railway Company, the country's first railway company. He was married to Margaretha Catharina van Lennep and had one daughter. He died in Bloemendaal on 8 June 1881.