When the New York Life Insurance Company opened this building in 1891, its soaring six floors brought a touch of Manhattan to Amsterdam's canals—literally, as architect J. van Looy had also designed the company's lofty skyscraper in Manhattan. By 1908, the Metz department store had converted the offices into showcases for Liberty fabrics and De Stijl teapots. Shop if you must, but don't fail to take the circular staircase up from the sixth-floor café to discover the penthouse created by master designer Gerrit Rietveld in 1933 as a showroom to highlight functionalist furniture (his own included). Its glass roof offers dazzling views of this particularly alluring section of Amsterdam, and the café itself is a favorite time-out spot.
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