From timber trade to housebuilding
Floor Wibaut, born in Vlissingen (1859-1936), began his career as a successful timber merchant. Only at the age of 45 did he move from Zeeland to Amsterdam. Not to live off his money on a canal, but to give the city a good shake-up. When he saw the slums and cellar dwellings of his new fellow citizens, he decided things had to change. And as real doers do: he simply got to work himself.
The red engineer of the city
As an active member of the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (SDAP, the social democratic workers' party) and later as alderman, Wibaut played a leading role in the great expansions of the city. Think of neighbourhoods like Berlage's Plan Zuid, Vogeldorp in Noord, and De Baarsjes, all of them came about partly under his leadership. He championed public housing, a modern sewer system, better transport and utilities such as gas, water and electricity. Wibaut quite literally built a humane Amsterdam.
A statue for the poor
Wibaut didn't do any of it for honour or money, he mainly wanted things to get better for the ordinary Amsterdammer. No wonder, then, that after his death he was honoured with a statue and a street name. And not just some alley, but 'his own' major thoroughfare where thousands of cyclists, trams and students pass by every day.
Statue toppled
In 1982 the statue of Floor Wibaut was brutally pulled off its pedestal by activists. They placed the statue in front of the nearby squat De Blaaskop, with a noose around its neck and a sign with a clear statement:
"Beware of right-wingers disguised as left-wingers, avoid them like the plague, for they are worse than the rest."The action left its mark: the statue was badly damaged. Fortunately it was later carefully restored, with Hildo Krop's pupil Pieter Starreveld (or according to some sources: under the supervision of Wezelaar) making sure that Wibaut was restored to his former glory.
