Gerrit van Arkel was born in Loenen, Utrecht, on April 3, 1858. Here he attended elementary school and "Fransche school", which was mainly attended by the children of the inhabitants of the many country estates around the city of Utrecht. There was no money for further education, so the young Van Arkel was apprenticed as a carpenter's apprentice to Mr. Fluijt's company. A few years later Van Arkel left for Amsterdam, where he attended evening classes at the Industries School of the Society for the Working Class. He caught the eye of one of the board members, the architect Jan Galman, who gave Van Arkel a place as a draftsman in his office. In 1876, he joined the office of G.B. Salm, where he met W. Wilkens, who worked there as chef de bureau. In 1882, Wilkens and Van Arkel decided to establish themselves together as associate architects. Because Wilkens died as early as 1884, Van Arkel had to continue on his own. Van Arkel built and remodeled numerous houses, storefronts and offices in Amsterdam. He also designed numerous interiors. Among his best-known designs were the office building for the towing service H. Rutters on the Ruyterkade (now demolished), a large office for the Marine Insurance Company Ltd on the Rokin and -together with H.A.J. Baanders- the office building of the Eerste Hollandsche Levensverzekeringsbank on the corner of Keizersgracht and Leliegracht in 1903-1904. From 1914 Van Arkel worked together with the architect H.J. Breman. Together they were responsible, among other things, for a number of renovations and expansions of the large Prins Hendrik cooling house on the Nieuwe Vaart canal in Amsterdam in 1912 and 1920. This cold store has since made way for housing. Van Arkel -like many contemporaries- was initially strongly inspired by the Dutch Renaissance (late 16th and early 17th centuries). But in the 1990s his work underwent a change and he adopted elements of modern architectural styles such as Jugendstil and Art Nouveau. In his last more sober works, the influence of the Amsterdam School is already visible. In addition to his architectural practice, Van Arkel was also administratively and politically active. For example, in the 1980s he was very active within the society Architectura et Amicitea, was one of the founders of the association Amstelodamum and a member of the city council for the liberal democratic group. Van Arkel would die in 1918. His partner H.J. Breman would continue the firm after his death. literature G. van Arkel; Architect - Amsterdam; buildings executed, projects; edited by Dr. G. Schueler; Bussum, 1917 De Amsterdamse Diamantbeurs - The Amsterdam Diamond Exchange; Simone Lipschitz; Stadsuitgeverij Amsterdam, 1990