These beautiful old buildings have been wonderfully restored and preserved. It's truly remarkable when you realize most of them are built on stilts stuck into the mud. So many structures lean at odd angles that it's rare to see a whole block in alignment. Many have had to have their supports replaced over the centuries to keep the buildings upright. Oude Kerk in the Red Light district As beautiful as these buildings appear on the outside, unless they've been completely remodeled inside they are likely to suffer from the typical drawbacks of Dutch architecture of the period.
Most buildings are deep and narrow.
This was a result of city taxes that were measured by frontage. Of course the thrifty Dutch decided to keep their buildings narrow and thus avoid paying too much tax. Other drawbacks to old Dutch buildings are steep, narrow winding staircases with low ceilings to bump your head into. These staircases make it impossible to bring any large objects into one's house, thus most of these buildings have a hook extending from the top of the building allowing the residents to hoist their larger furnishings up through the windows. Nowadays you can rent an electric ramp that works like an escalator whisking belongings as high as six stories.