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Amsterdam was very prosperous at the end of the nineteenth century. Trade flourished, and more and more people decided to live in the city. The Government of Amsterdam, therefore, decided in 1896 to build a new stock exchange. The designer was the architect and urban planner Hendrik Petrus Berlage. Berlage, however, was a fervent socialist and did not believe that the stock exchange would last. He solved this smartly and creatively. Inspired by the Italian Palazzo Pubblico, Berlage decided to design the new stock exchange building in such a way that in the future, after the expected victory of socialism, it could serve as a grand and impressive community house.
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