The Orangjeappel Orphanage Through the Eyes of an Artist Who Grew Up There

This large nineteenth-century painting of the regents of the Collegiant-Doopsgezind Orangjeappel was commissioned from an artist who himself grew up as one of the orphans at this institution. Gerrit Postma (1819-1894) was born in Nes on Ameland, but after the death of his father the family moved to Amsterdam. Not long after that his mother also passed away. He grew up in the Oranjeappel from 1828-1842.

Postma demonstrated significant artistic talent. He received lessons from celebrated Dutch painter Jan Adam Kruzeman, and studied at the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten. The Orangjeappel regents portrait is one example of his painted work; however, for Amsterdammers, he may be most familiar as the illustrator of various doorways and views of Amsterdam’s civic and religious buildings. Not surprisingly, he also drew the entry ways to the Orangjeappel.

Located between the Keizersgracht, Herengracht, and Huidenstraat, the Orangjeappel orphanage came into fruition in 1675 when Collegiants, who were meeting at warehouse on the Keizersgracht (present-day 345-347), were concerned about orphans from their more open-minded circles who might otherwise be brought up in orphanages with inflexible theological dogmas that went against their Collegiant values. A boys orphanage was opened first, and in 1680 with the purchase of the canal house at present-day Herengracht 346, a girls orphanage was opened as well. Boys entered from the Keizersgracht while the entrance to the girl’s orphanage was at Huidenstraat 2.

From the beginning, the Collegiant orphanage had strong ties with the Lamist Mennonite church of Amsterdam (Singelkerk). All but one of the founding governors of the orphanage were Collegiant Mennonites. In 1811, the orphanage management became more explicitly tied to the Amsterdam Mennonite community: an agreement between the orphanage governors and the deacons of the Verenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente Amsterdam (united Mennonite congregation of Amsterdam) established that all members of the board of governors were to be members of the Mennonite church from that point on. This allowed for the closure of the other Mennonite orphanage on the Prinsengracht that remained open in Amsterdam at that time (formerly Prinsengracht 1011-1017, also a site illustrated by Postma). The remaining 17 orphans were transferred over to the Oranjeappel.

The Oranjeappel location between the Herengracht and Keizersgracht was used until 1920. After that, it was moved to the De Lairessestraat 11, and then, in 1930, to Hilversum where it eventually closed. One Oranjeappel gable stone - an orange on a leafy branch - was eventually moved onto the Singelkerk premises and now rests above the door of the church board room right beside Postma’s Oranjeappel regents portrait. An Oranjeappel gablestone is also still visible above a gateway at Huidenstrasat 2 even though the orphanage premises that used to be there are no longer extant.