From gasworks to guest rooms
The park takes its name from its position west of the old city wall, and for most of the twentieth century its dominant neighbour was a municipal gas factory. When the gas works closed, the site became a cultural park with venues, restaurants and a long lawn, and the streets around it filled with renovated housing. Hotels arrived later, mostly as small independent houses and as aparthotels in former warehouse and office buildings along the main road out to the west. For a visitor, the district feels residential. Evenings are quiet outside the park events, cycle paths run along the water, and the walk to the Jordaan takes about fifteen minutes. The hotels here attract people staying a few days longer, festival guests and travellers who want a room larger than the canal ring offers for the same money.











