Berlage's Stock Exchange. An architectural turning point, completed in 1903, the Stock Exchange is considered Amsterdam's first modern building. In 1874, when the Amsterdam Stock Exchange building on the Dam showed signs of collapse, the city authorities held a competition for the design of a new one. Fortunately, the architect initially chosen was caught copying the facade of a French town hall, so the commission was awarded to local boy H. P. Berlage. The building that Berlage came up with proved to be a template for its new century. Gone were all the fripperies and ornamentations of the 19th-century "Neo" styles. The new Beurs, with its simple lines and the influence it had on the Amsterdam School architects who followed Berlage, earned him the reputation of being the "Father of Modern Dutch Architecture."

The building -- welcoming and quick to absorb by all -- is in fact a political manifesto that preaches the oneness of capital and labor. Built upon 4,880 wooden piles, each of the Beurs van Berlage's 9 million bricks is meant to represent an individual, who together form a strong and democratic whole. Berlage showed particular respect for the labor unions by exposing their works and accenting the important structural points with natural stone. What details that do exist, many of them designed by Berlage himself, make comment -- as the Dutch are so good at -- on the follies of greed. Other details of particular interest come courtesy of Jan Toorop (tile tableaus), Antoon Derkinderen (stained glass), and Mendes da Costa (woodwork).

Perhaps intimidated by all the warnings of blind capitalism, the stockbrokers eventually moved to find more reassuringly Brutalist accommodation (they moved to a stark, modern new building), and today the Beurs serves as a true Palazzo Publico with concert halls (home to the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra) and space for exhibitions of architecture and applied arts. The small museum has exhibits about the former stock exchange and its architect and offers access to the view from the lofty clock tower. And in 2003, they opened a new and freely accessible café complete with stunning mosaics in which to enjoy some scenic coffee slurping. COST: EUR5.