A Brief History of Amsterdam's Stopera

Amsterdam’s city hall has moved several times over the past five centuries and relocated to a circular, custom-built complex on Waterlooplein called Stopera in 1988. Although Stopera has since become an important and celebrated part of Amsterdam’s urban centre, its development was fraught with difficulties.
From 1665 to 1808 Amsterdam’s city hall was located on Dam Square, inside the stately Dutch Golden Age building that would eventually become the Royal Palace. After the Netherlands was annexed by the French Empire in 1806, Amsterdam’s council was evicted from the palace to make room for the new King of Holland, Louis Napoleon, and his court. Afterwards, the city hall was moved to Prinsenhof on Oudezijds Voorburgwal and stayed there until 1988.
In the early twentieth century Amsterdam’s government decided to move the city hall once again, but had trouble finding a suitable location. In 1954 they allocated a plot on Waterlooplein and after rejecting several ideas, launched an architectural competition in 1967 to find an appropriate design for the new building. Austrian architect Wilhelm Holzbauer was named the winner of this contest a year later, however construction was delayed because of budgetary difficulties.