When World War II broke out in Europe in 1940, when Holland was occupied by the Germans in May of that year, the Dutch Caribbean islands were left without enough defense to protect the oil refineries on Aruba and Curaçao. First French troops stepped in, followed by British, but finally the Americans took over the defense. Since there were no buildings for these troops and their officers, a major construction plan was rolled out in Oranjestad, right on the boulevard.

The main building was built in 1942 and served as a military barracks and officers’ quarters. Although the building was built for barracks, it was already decided that as soon as the war ended it would serve as a government building. The design is by DOW-Curaçao and illustrates the typical characteristics of DOW architecture of the forties and fifties of the last century. It is an architecture specially made for this tropical climate. The beautiful building was characterized by construction typical of that time with deep loggias and open galleries, which provided plenty of shade and coolness in the era before air conditioning.The building was also laid out in the direction of the wind and surrounded by an open space.

The left half of what is now the ‘Bestuurskantoor’ (Government Office), served as an officers’ mess and officers’ hotel. The military commander sat above the main entrance, which is now centrally located in the since expanded building, and from the balcony the people could be waved to during royal visits.

This building, the current ‘Bestuurskantoor’, is the last construction on the boulevard that is a reminder of the period of World War II.

In January 1945 the officers’ quarters became a government accommodation building or ‘Pasanggrahan’. In 1953 it became the seat of the lieutenant governor and the deputies.

Over the years, the Bestuurskantoor fell into such disrepair due to lack of maintenance that Prime Minister Nelson Oduber moved out of the building with his government in the last years of his fourth term of office. MetaCorp’s CEO Eduardo de Veer expressed his interest in taking over the building and renovating it, but before this happened, it was Mike Eman who, after his resounding election victory in 2009, triumphantly moved back into the building and had it renovated by volunteers from his party. It remained the administrative office for each government since.

A wing was added to the right of the main entrance, which gives symmetry to the building and where the Department of Finance took up residence. The original building, so suitable for the tropics, lost its charming appearance due to the closing of the galleries and the construction of windows behind which civil servants and politicians could cool off in the air conditioning.

The last addition to this complex was the construction of the Parliament of Aruba with the council chamber.

In 2010, the Aruba Monuments Bureau restored the building, bringing it back to its original state, with the open galleries in front of the offices on the left side.