In Van Gogh’s time, the Dommerkanaal was flanked by marvelous homes, built for the Amsterdam gentlemen who founded the Drentsche Landontginning Maatschappij (Drenthe Extraction Society) in 1850. The Blikhuis, or Tin House, was one of these buildings, commissioned by Pieter Christiaan van Beeck Vollenhoven. His brother-in-law Pieter Christiaan Stadnitski has also been immortalised in the Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord area, with a neighbourhood being named in his honour.
