Sleeping in a Former Church: The Story of Chassé Hotel Amsterdam

Which Amsterdam hotels are in former churches?

Chassé runs two hotels in Amsterdam, and both are former churches. Chassé Boutique Hotel is in Amsterdam West, in the church locals call the Chassékerk. Chassé Hotel Residency is in Amsterdam Oost, in the former Christus Koningkerk.

They are thirty years and a city apart in style. One is a brick church from the 1920s. The other is a post-war church from the late 1950s. Both stood empty when their congregations left. Both are now in use again, as places to sleep, eat, dance and meet.

The Chassékerk: a 1926 church in Amsterdam West

The official name is the Church of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Altijddurende Bijstand, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Nobody uses it. The church took its nickname from the street it stands on, Chasséstraat. A proposed name, the Baarsjeskerk, after the neighbourhood, was dropped soon after.

Architect Karel Petrus Tholens designed the church and its rectory between 1924 and 1926. The first stone was laid in February 1926. The church was consecrated in November of the same year. Its brickwork shows the influence of the Amsterdam School, the expressive brick style that shaped much of the city in the 1920s.

Attendance fell in the decades that followed. Services wound down in the early 2000s, and the church was fully withdrawn from worship in 2007. Demolition was considered, but the building was protected as a monument. After a period of vacancy, it was restored between 2011 and 2017.

Today the Chassékerk houses Chassé Boutique Hotel, a four-star hotel with South American-inspired interiors, and Chassé Dance Studios.

The Christus Koningkerk: a post-war church in Amsterdam Oost

On James Wattstraat in Amsterdam Oost stands the former Christus Koningkerk, built between 1957 and 1959. It was built with money raised by the community, as thanks that Amsterdam had been spared during the war. Later it stood empty for years and was even marked for demolition.

The building now holds Chassé Hotel Residency, with 77 rooms and serviced apartments. It also holds Brasserie Lenny, a French brasserie that opened on 24 August 2026, and event spaces including a theatre hall for around 500 people.

What is it like to stay in a church hotel?

You sleep in rooms that follow the building, not a standard hotel floor plan. At the Residency, rooms range from 19 m² to 50 m². Some are compact doubles, others have two bedrooms and sleep up to six. Guests at West often mention the size of the rooms and bathrooms.

You also share the building with more than a hotel. In Oost, guests can have lunch or dinner downstairs at Brasserie Lenny. In West, the dance studios bring a creative, local crowd to the building during the day and evening.

Why do Amsterdam churches become hotels?

Many Dutch churches lost their congregations in the second half of the 20th century. Empty monuments are expensive to keep and hard to reuse. A hotel is one of the few uses that keeps the building open to the public, every day, while paying for its upkeep. For both Chassé churches, it meant the buildings stayed standing and stayed part of their neighbourhoods.

Read more about our history, or compare the two properties in Chassé Residency or Chassé West: which one should you book?