There is an inconspicuous black door between the houses at Dorpsstraat 157 and number 159. Nothing special in itself, but the story behind the door is. There used to be an alley there with the name Piet and Dorasteeg. Where did that name come from?
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You may not be able to imagine it now, but in the early 1900s, in the Eerste Stationsstraat, from the Meat & Daily’s butcher shop to the local canal, there was a row of workers’ houses along an alley. Zoetermeer residents lived here with shared toilets, a garden, water pump and laundry room.
Read more under the photo>
Collect all the Petes and Doras
The alley was located between Dorpsstraat and Molenweg, which had been called Stationsstraat since 1930. The alley was accessible through two gates and had no specific name, but residents called it the Piet and Dorasteeg. This was because at least three couples with those first names lived in the alley.
Sleeping in a box bed
Adjacent to the alley were approximately twenty houses, the Rodeborg family’s shop, sheds, communal toilets, a rubbish dump, rainwater well with pump, a courtyard and a laundry room. The houses included two box beds, a staircase to the attic and a kitchen. The workers’ houses were demolished around 1965 to widen the street.
Nowadays the street is called Eerste Stationsstraat, with the Pilatusdam located next to it. The only thing that reminds us of the old alley is that black door in Dorpsstraat.
