Page 11 - aruba-today-20240823

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local Friday 23 august 2024
Aruba to me

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In celebrating 200 years of Oranjestad...
Learn about the history of the famous town hall!

(Oranjestad)—If you’ve
ever taken a stroll through
main street Oranjestad,
you may have stumbled
upon a big green house
with beautiful colonial de-
sign. This legendary house,
now used as a town hall for
civil marriages, was once
owned by a wealthy doctor
and formed part of the elite
neighborhood in Oranjes-
tad.

Jacobo Eloy Arends was
an Aruban physician, and
in lived in Oranjestad dur-
ing the 1920s. In 1922, he
married Maria Monica
Lacle, the daughter of well-
known business man at the
time, Adriaan Lacle. The
two lived a posh life in the time for his construction of by her sisters-in-law. cost became too high to sion, owned by Jacobo’s
city center, and their man- beautiful buildings. cover. brother Frederico Maxi-
sion—once the center for The mansion also con- miliaan (Machi) Arends.
neighborhood parties— The construction of the tained the doctor’s office, The land was sold to Land Frederico was married to
now serves as a public house started once Jacobo as well as a pharmacy. Af- Aruba in 1986, but it did not Veneranda (whom the
town hall for civil marriages and Maria got engaged. It ter the death of Jacobo, see a renovation until 1997. mansion was named after).
and is a cultural monument is said that during the time the house was inherited by Nowadays, it serves to host Their house was also con-
on the island. of construction, Maria was his son, an Aruban dentist, weddings, and is attached structed by Dada Picus, uti-
not allowed to see the who converted Jacobo’s to a modern building situ- lizing Veneranda’s design
The house was designed building nor be anywhere office into his own dental ated behind—the Aruban vision that was inspired by
by architect Chibi Wever, near the construction site. practice. Over the years, census office. a house she saw in Carta-
and constructed under the It wasn’t until after her hon- the house was rented and gena, Colombia.
leadership of famous mas- eymoon that she saw the used by third parties, but Jacobo and Maria’s man-
ter carpenter, Dada Picus, completed mansion for the eventually fell into disre- sion was situated in front Nowadays, this mansion lies
who was famous at the first time, furnished entirely pair, as the maintenance of another famous man- in ruins. However, the Aru-
ban government recently
announced its official res-
toration, with plans to con-
vert this monument into a
governmental office and
public space for visitors of
Oranjestad. q
Source and pictures credited
to: “De Kolibrie op de Rots (en
meer over the geschiedenis
van Aruba)” by Evert Bongers.