Monuments

Monuments Lost

Princess Beatrix Airport building * 1950

Location: South-east of Oranjestad, on Dakota aloe fields Year Built: 1950 Monument status: Demolished In 1937 an Air-traffic Radio Station was established and this became the first passenger handling building on the island. The building and the runway were located south-east of Oranjestad, on a terrain that was part of the Government aloe vera fields [...] Read more >

Police Headquarters * 1930s

Address: Oranjestad: A.M. Schuttestraat San Nicolas: Bernhardstraat 144 Year Built: 1930s Monument status: demolished Ownership: Government of Aruba The Oranjestad Police Headquarters was built in the 1930s. It was located at the intersection of the A.M. Schuttestraat and Havenstraat. The police headquarters, both in Oranjestad as in San Nicolas, are built in the neoclassical style, [...] Read more >

Commander’s Office * 1830

Location: intersection Havenstraat/Kazernestraat Year Built: 1830 Monument status: distroyed Ownership: Government of Aruba Once it was the most important building of the island, the Commander’s Office. It was built around 1830 and as of 1848 (until 1929), it served as residence and office of the island’s Commander, later called the Lieutenant Governor. The building was [...] Read more >

Rio Grande Store, Noord * 1921

Address: Noord 45; intersection Caya Frans Figaroa Year Built: 1921 Monument status: demolished Ownership: private At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a renowned master bricklayer, Janchi Christiaans, who built houses which featured undulating gables, a rarity in Aruba. In Curaçao they are more common. The style originated from Holland to the colonies, [...] Read more >

Dr. Horacio Oduber’s house * 1900s

Address: Wilhelminastraat 1 Year Built: 1900s Monument status: demolished Ownership: private At the beginning of Wilhelminastraat stood an impressive mansion, belonging to the island's first doctor, Horacio Eulogio Oduber. He was the first government doctor. The building stood next to the small protestant church, built in 1846. In the doctor's house, patients were received and [...] Read more >

Kazernestraat houses * 1900s

Address: Kazernestraat, Oranjestad Year Built: 1900s Monument status: demolished Ownership: private These houses stood at the Kazernestraat, next to the former Commander's office/Marines barracks. Read more >

El Castillo, Wilhelminastraat

Location: intersection Kruisweg/Wilhelminastraat Year Built: 1900s Monument status: demolished Ownership: private This monumental building was located at the intersection of Kruisweg and Wilhelminastraat. Owner was Jacobus Albertsz Arends. Photographer Jan Bonke had his studio in this building. This is him posing with his wife and kid. The building was torn down in the 1980s. The [...] Read more >

Basi Ruti * 1957

Location: Palm Beach Year Built: 1954-'57 Monument status: Demolished When people in Aruba started to realize in the early 1950s that a tourist hotel was needed on Palm Beach, the then Aruban Tourist Commission (predecessor of the Tourist Bureau and ATA) held a competition to come up with a concept for a tourist hotel. The [...] Read more >