Every design for Haarlem

Did you know that Harlem in New York owes its name to this city? Peter Stuyvesant founded Nieuw-Haarlem in New Netherland, and when the English took over the colony they shortened it. The original sits on the river Spaarne, near the coastal dunes west of Amsterdam, and it has gone by several names of its own: Spaarnestad after its river, Bloemenstad after the bulb fields it was the centre of for centuries.

What makes Haarlem unusual is what happened when it fell behind. The town grew rich in the Middle Ages on tolls from travellers along its narrow beach ridge, then watched Amsterdam take over as the great trading city of the Golden Age. Haarlem became quieter, and that quiet saved it. Its medieval centre survived largely intact, and much of it is now protected heritage. The Grote of St. Bavokerk still towers over the old streets, the Amsterdamse Poort survives from the old city, and hidden almshouse courtyards such as the Hofje van Loo open off ordinary lanes.

People here call themselves Haarlemmers, or jokingly mosquitoes. Either way, there is one river and one great church tower that tell them they are back where they belong.