Much like the Constructivist architects working in the Soviet Union around the same time, the architects of the Amsterdam School who designed this residential complex - Michel de Klerk and then Pieter Lodewijk Kramer - had the proletariat in mind as they planned and constructed these residencies. Education was central to their ideas, so instead of cafés or bars, a reading room was constructed on the premises. The serpent climbing the tree in the plaque above the entrance is supposed to represent the acquisition of knowledge, and the key under the row of books is the key to wisdom. The high clock tower is supposed to represent the intellectual advancement of the worker.
However rents proved to be unaffordable for simplelaborers, so white-collar workers tram conductors, postal workers and civil servants ended up living in this housing complex instead. Although even for these it wasn’t exactly easy to get an apartment in the Coöperatiehof. Since these residencies were very desirable, a committee was formed to approve those who would be allowed to live in them.
At the back of the reading room, looking out onto Takstraatstreet, Kramer designed a monument toTellegen. The latter was the director of the municipal Construction and Resident Committee from 1901 to 1915 and the mayor of Amsterdam in 1920-es. Together with the alderman Floor Wibaut, Tellegen was the driving force behind the large-scale housing projects executed in the Amsterdam School style.