Wibautstraat

The station lies beneath the Wibautstraat, named since 1939 after Floor Wibaut, a former Amsterdam alderman. In a 1968 metro plan the station was still called Oosterparkstraat.

The metro station on newspaper street

The Wibautstraat is named after Floor Wibaut, a former Amsterdam alderman, and has carried that name since 1939. The German occupiers changed it: from 13 February 1942 to 18 May 1945 it was called Weesperpoortstraat.

Between 1970 and 1977 much of the street was dug up to build the East Line. Here too, large concrete caissons were used, and traffic heading into the centre had to detour around the Parool triangle. The station opened in October 1977. Its two halls lie about 4 metres below the street and the 155-metre island platform about 8 metres. It was one of three East Line stations also designed as shelters.

For decades this was Amsterdam's newspaper street. De Volkskrant was at number 150 from 1965, Het Parool at number 131 from 1970, and Trouw moved into an office tower by the Parool building in 1976. Het Parool left in 2003 and the other two followed in 2007. Underground, that era lives on: cartoonist Rob Wout, better known as Opland, made five artworks referring to the three papers. They are considered culturally and historically valuable and so have stayed.