Address: | Wilhelminastraat 7 |
Year Built: | 1936 |
Open to Public: | No |
Ownership: | Monumentsfund Aruba |
Veneranda House * 1936
Category: Oranjestad
The house across from the Eloy Arends residence was built in 1936 by Eloy’s brother Frederico Maximiliaan (1901-1981), generally known as Machi Arends . He was the Consul of Spain.
During one of their travels, Machi’s wife Veneranda (1901-1985) had fallen in love with a beautiful house in Cartagena, Colombia.
So Machi sent his architect Dada Picus there to study the style of the house in order to duplicate it in Oranjestad.
Picus returned with the design of the house in his head; he shipped lots of Colombian wood to be used for floors, doors and frames. Only the best materials were good enough. The house was the biggest and most luxurious mansion of the island and it even included a rose garden. It became the house we know today as Cas Veneranda.
After it had been a family home, the house has also housed a flower shop, an ice cream parlor and the consulate of Spain. In the 1970’s it was the location of Papiamento Restaurant.
Unfortunately, just like the doctor’s residence across the street, this building suffered years of neglect. When it was a restaurant, a huge stairway was added. This, however, was not part of the original design. When the restaurant moved elsewhere, homeless people took over the building.
In 2014 a raging fire destroyed the roof and much of the priceless wooden floors and window frames.
After years of deliberations between the Arends family and the Monuments Bureau and Monuments Fund Foundation, the restauration of the ‘Cas di Veneranda’ finally started in 2024.