The building was named after the architect Hendrik Petier Berlage, who was hired by the Dutch government in 1896 to build the new stock exchange building of the city. Berlage, a committed socialist, was inspired by the Italian Palazzo Publico and designed the stock exchange building with the vision that it would one day be repurposed to become home to a community house. It echoes the influence of the Romanesque and the Art Nouveau movements, while its clock-tower is inspired by the 13th-century Torre del Popolo in Brescia. The stock exchange was inaugurated in 1903 and marks the passage to modernism and the famous Amsterdam School. It functioned as a stock exchange until 1998 and was later transformed into a conference centre with restaurants, cafes, and shops. It has, justifiably, been listed among the most important buildings of the 20th century and has earned the appellation the “Night Watch of Architecture” in the Dutch press.