Long may we live! Long may we live!

In terms of housing, pensioners are often classified together with younger sections of society with whom they have the shared characteristics, such as the poor, sick, single people or childless couples. In 1930 the Amsterdam Cooperative Housing Association commissioned the architect Willem Marinus Dudok (1930) to design a large apartment complex for childless couples and elderly couples in Amsterdam Zuid.

This new part of the city became a chic neighbourhood in the 1920s. The design comprises a monumental block of flats with urban amenities, including a department store, a public restaurant, and recreation and dining rooms for the residents. A glazed viewing platform on the top floor provides a spectacular view of Amsterdam. A well-distributed system of lifts carries the residents up to their apartments, which range in size from one to five rooms. The majority of the apartments are situated in the three wings projecting southwards, with balconies looking onto the internal gardens. The building's height and the density of apartments prevented it from being realised. There were doubts whether 'the elderly would want to live in such cells'.