点评:Strolling through Haarlem, we were struck by the number of beautiful, historic buildings. It’s one of the things that makes Haarlem such a charming city.
The two De Olyphant (Elephant) houses, with their classic crow-stepped gables and distinctively patterned brickwork, caught our eye immediately.
They are picture-perfect, standing alongside the Spaarne River, opposite the Gravestone Bridge.
We were surprised to learn that they were originally built as a brewery.
Until 1688, this was the De Olyphant beer brewery - today they are residential houses.
Strangely, the houses seem to lean dangerously forward, teetering towards the river. It did not look very stable and initially we thought this was subsidence. Or perhaps the weight of the gable was pulling the upper facade forward? Was Haarlem itself was on a tilt? However it was none of these. Instead the odd-looking pitch was quite deliberate. It simply made it an awful lot easier to hoist furniture and goods up to the higher floors.
It’s not known for sure when the houses were built but it’s thought to be around 1606 when the original De Olyphant brewery burnt down.
They were restored between 1968 and 1976.
翻译:漫步在哈勒姆,我们被众多美丽的历史建筑所震撼。这是哈勒姆如此迷人的原因之一。
两栋 De Olyphant(大象)房屋,其经典的梯形山墙和图案独特的砖砌结构,立即吸引了我们的眼球。
它们完美无缺,矗立在 Spaarne 河畔,与墓碑桥相对。
我们惊讶地得知,它们最初是作为啤酒厂建造的。
直到 1688 年,这里都是 De Olyphant 啤酒厂 - 如今它们是住宅。
奇怪的是,这些房子似乎危险地向前倾斜,摇摇欲坠地朝着河边。它看起来不太稳定,起初我们以为这是下沉。或者也许是山墙的重量将上部立面向前拉?哈勒姆本身是否倾斜了?然而,这些都不是。相反,奇怪的倾斜是故意的。它只是让将家具和货物吊到更高的楼层变得非常容易。
这些房屋的具体建造时间尚不清楚,但据推测建于 1606 年左右,当时原来的 De Olyphant 啤酒厂被烧毁。
这些房屋在 1968 年至 1976 年间进行了修复。