the city. After several plans by city planners were rejected, the city commissioned Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage in 1899 to design a masterplan. Berlage's plan, called Plan Zuid, was approved by the city council in 1905. Architecture With Berlage's masterplan in hand, the city started with the process of acquiring the rural estates south of the city through formal expropriation. With this process underway, it became clear that the original plan, which in many ways resembled the old city with its curvy streets and low-rise buildings, would be too expensive and inefficient. Berlage was asked to revise his plan, which he presented in 1914. Compared to the original plan, the second plan is much denser. It contains mostly four-story, rectangular apartment blocks on narrower, linear residential streets. Nevertheless, the new neighbourhoods would have a much more spacious and greener outlook than the earlier expansions. The plan also provided a system of broad, majestic thoroughfares connecting the various neighborhoods. With the new plan approved by the city council, development in the area began in 1917. The Rivierenbuurt, the eastern section of the plan, was specifically designed for the middle class. The area mainly consists of fully enclosed apartment blocks, many of which were designed in Amsterdam School style. In 1921, the land expropriated here was provided on leasehold to the Amstel building association in which 71 construction companies worked together. Famous architects such as Margaret Staal-Kropholler, Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer were commissioned to design the apartment blocks. Some of the finest examples of Amsterdam School architecture, characterized by its curvy facades and wealth of fantasy ornaments are found in the northeastern part of the neighborhood, for example at Holendrechtstraat. The association eventually built 1,739 relatively small apartments rented out for 11 to 20 guilders per week. In 1925, the project was completed but 16 of the participating companies had already gone bankrupt. The municipality subsequently acquired considerable property in this section of the Rivierenbuurt. As economic circumstances changed, many of Berlage's ambitious plans including a monumental local railway station never materialized. The apartment blocks in the southern part of the neighborhood, the last area to be developed, are often built on the basis of standardized plans and as such adhere more to the modernist Nieuwe Zakelijkheid style rather than the more decorative Amsterdam School style. A prominent example is the Twaalfverdiepingenhuis ('Twelve Story House'), an unusually tall building