I love building decoration. It's one of the differences between the US and many older countries that I haven't grown blind to. I take pictures constantly of the many stone characters, brickwork patterns, even the mailslots, that grace the buildings here.

These started to catch my eye and I've collected 4 so far. They're gorgeous.

These have been a mystery to me for a couple years. They don't seem to be part of the original building because the material doesn't exactly match and they don't repeat like other decorative elements on the buildings. And the small scale is a giveaway. I wondered if they were some makers mark, perhaps from the Stadgenoot that owns and renovates many buildings (their mark happened to be on these buildings but its just a coincidence). Or maybe the best form of street art I've ever seen?

Now that I've sat down to write about them, I've finally put my photo into Google Reverse Image search and found the answer on the first try: they're insect houses. But also art, like I thought, but they have an additional purpose.

These insect houses are created by artist Bastiaan Meijer who continues to make them. Luckily, he's got his own website explaining the project: wat zijn insectenhuisjes The site also includes a map of all the locations where the insect houses have been installed. There are between 1 and 2 thousand.

I haven't done a full survey of the insect houses but many of them, including the ones that caught my eye, are inspired or modeled after the Amsterdamse School architectural movement. I'm a big fan of this architectural style because it brings a beautiful layer to Amsterdam. A lot of cities may have a quaint, cozy old town in the center and everything else is new. Amsterdam architecture is organized like tree rings, each one surrounded the existing city when it was developed. The Amsterdamse School ring of urban growth dates from the 1910s-1930s.

If you're visiting the city and are interested in architecture, I highly recommend visiting Museum Het Schip to see more fine examples.

I'm so happy to learn that there are many more of these insect houses out there to discover.

More examples on Bastiaan Meijer's YouTube channel.

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De kleine huisjes op de foto’s hierboven waren een mysterie voor me. Ik vind de stijl erg grillig en ze vereren de beroemde Amsterdamse School architectuurstijl. Ik dacht eerst dat het straatkunst was. Ik ben blij te ontdekken dat de kunst van een lokale kunstenaar is gemaakt.

De kunstenaar heet Bastiaan Meijer en hij maakt de huisjes voor insecten. De huisjes moedigen meer verschillende insecten aan en vergroten biodiversiteit. Insecten zijn belangrijk omdat ze planten en bomen bestuiven en helpen bij de afbraak van afval.

Wat een slim idee! Biodiversiteit en schoonheid gecombineerd.

Als je meer wilt leren, bezoek de webpagina van de kunstenaar: wat zijn insectenhuisjes. De kunstenaar geeft één of twee keer per jaar workshops over het maken van insectenhuisjes, waar je je voor kunt aanmelden.