In the heart of Amsterdam's city centre stand three 17th-century buildings. Stepped and bell gables and Golden Age grandeur, but also a history with cracks. After the war the neighbourhood fell into decline, and the houses partly burned down when a farmhand set fire to the potato barn behind them. As a result, the street was barely liveable for decades. The municipality bought the three buildings and turned them into offices. For a long time they housed the offices of Monumentenwacht Amsterdam. After Monumentenwacht moved out, the buildings became three houses again, and people live there once more.

They are beautiful buildings, but less glorious when it comes to comfort. Single glazing, windows that don't close and hardly any insulation. Residents say that in winter you can see your breath in the bedroom. That is why they want to renovate and modernise their homes: warm, sustainable and liveable, without losing their character.

Together with the owners, we are shaping the restoration and the sustainability upgrade. Facades and roofs are being insulated, the single glazing makes way for double glazing suited to listed buildings, and each house gets a patio door to the inner garden, where the burned-down potato barn once stood. In one building the layout is being fully modernised: two floors get a new plan, with a larger bedroom, a generous bathroom and a new staircase in keeping with its history. With solar panels and a heat pump, the three houses will soon reach an A++ energy label. Centuries-old walls will breathe again. One building is currently under construction, the permit for the second has been granted, and the application for the third is in progress.