The premises that will be open to the public on the occasion of ‘Monumento Habrí 2007’ (Open Monument Day), for the greater part are situated on the isthmus that in those days connected Willemstad with the rest of the island. Here ‘Pietermaai Smal’ (Narrow Pietermaai) originated in the 18th and 19th century. The area in which the houses are opened runs from the Theaterstraat up to and including the Johan van Walbeeckplein.
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The name Pietermaai
Pietermaai came into being in the area east of Fort Amsterdam and De Willemstad as Punda was called in those days. The district takes its name from the ship’s captain Pieter de Meij. The latter settled in Curaçao from Brazil around 1674. He was the owner of a plantation near the current Julianaplein, called ‘Zeelucht’ (Sea air). In 1680 the West Indian Trading Company (‘WIC’) auctioned off a plot in that neighborhood, which is mentioned as being situated close to Altena and was also called ‘Pieter de Meij’. This lot was bought by Nicolaas van Liebergen, the then director of the WIC in Curaçao. He had three houses built there for himself by slaves and with building material belonging to the Company. His successor, director J. van Erpecum, thought this way of behaving was very reprehensible and informed the Amsterdam chamber.
From “Steenen Padt” to Pietermaaiweg and Kaya Wilson ‘Papa’ Godett
Across this isthmus a road came about with the name ‘Steenen Padt’ (Stone Path). This path connected the Fort with the Caracas Bay. The name was used as far back as 1673 by Jan Doncker (1673-1679 WIC director in Curaçao) in his report of the attack on the island by the French in that year. He wrote, among other things, that ‘as the enemy was already marching on Altena and the Stone Path, and was seen approaching hither’. The path also got other names, such as the road, or the common road to Altena, or the road to the Government Country house (nowadays the oldest part of the Avila Hotel). The old deeds of transfer mention the houses in Pietermaai as standing outside the ‘Steenen Padspoort’ (Stone Path Gate) on the common road to Altena. This gate was situated on the southeast side of the walled town at the beginning of the present Breedestraat, where the road to Pietermaai began. Building started approximately five hundred meters from the town, so that a free field of fire was maintained.
In the late 17th and early 18th century the space within the town walls became completely built over. Drawings (mid18th century) have been preserved of plans to extend the town in the direction of Pietermaai with a walled-in part. These plans were not carried out. Building in Pietermaai increased gradually. The government had its objections to building beyond the protection of the town walls. For that reason in 1753 an ordinance was issued prohibiting the building of more homes and the expansion of existing houses in Otrobanda, Scharloo or Pietermaai.
After the occupation by the English in the early 19th century, the decision was made to fortify the defense of the island. A new defense line would be set up from the Saint Ana Bay along the shore (the Water Fort), and from the present ‘Marichi’ as far as the Waaigat. Due to lack of money the plans were only partially executed.
Furthermore, in the 19th century the idea that out-of- date fortifications could no longer give protection against enemy attacks won ground, therefore in the second half of the century the demolition of the town walls was carried out. To that end a group of Jewish merchants was granted a concession by the colonial government. With the debris that was made available part of the Waaigat had to be filled in. At the north and the east of the town new building grounds were won, continuing as far as the present Julianaplein. The grounds were built over gradually. Thus also the building of large villas between town and the older part of Pietermaai came about. It took a little longer for people to start building north of Pietermaai as well. Pictures from the late 19th century show a still largely vacant, dried plain. There the Nieuwestraat was constructed, but on the Werbata map from 1906-1909 it can be seen, that the lands to its north had not been built over yet.
Some years ago the name of part of the Pietermaaiweg was changed into Kaya Wilson ‘Papa’ Godett, in memory of the man who had played an important role in the events around May 30th, 1969. The office of his labor union, the ‘Algemene Haven Unie’ (General Harbor Union), was housed at Pietermaaiweg 35 from 1972 till 1991. Moreover, he was one of the founders of the political party ‘Frente Obrero i Liberashon 30 di mei’ (Labor Front and Liberation May 30th). In addition to this new name, the names Pietermaai and Pietermaaiweg are still being used.
Johan van Walbeeckplein
On a few 18th and 19th century maps it is visible how the building on the north side of the Pietermaaiweg extends as far as the present Johan van Walbeeckplein (plaza). There used to be a tongue of land in the Waaigat north of the plaza. On this, the first constructions came about at the north side of what later was to become the Johan van Walbeeckplein. Amidst the buildings a plaza originated with an unusual shape: a triangle with a short base to the west and two relatively long sides. This plaza was called Damplein at first. In all likelihood that name was taken from the dam that according to 18th century maps, ran through the eastern part of the Waaigat to Scharloo. The Damsteeg (Dam Alley) that went from the plaza to Ansinghstraat probably owes its name to this dam. In the course of the 20th century the name Damplein was changed into Johan van Walbeeckplein. Under the command of Johan van Walbeeck Curaçao was taken possession of in 1634.
Patrol paths
Formerly, there were patrol paths along the sea and the Waaigat, because the military in the event of an attack on the eastern part of the island, needed to be able to come into operations rapidly. The path on the side of the Waaigat has disappeared with the construction of the Nieuwestraat, whereas the Patrol Path along the sea was still there before World War II, as is evident from the description by Visman of his youth in Curaçao. In those days it used to be a path he liked a lot, alongside which he walked the distance between his parental home at Penstraat to the Hendrik School. The path along the shore was further washed away more and more by the incessant beating of the waves. The Penstraat too is indicated on old maps as Patrol Path.
Building of Pietermaai
Nowadays when you stroll from town along the Pietermaaiweg, it is remarkable that the latter at first rather skirts the shoreline. Halfway down the Pietermaaiweg the parcels at the seaside deepen. In the 18th century a ribbon development came about, by which detached houses and rows of two or three connected houses alternated with each other. The parcels mostly continued to the sea or the Waaigat. Between the houses many alleys, sometimes a little broader, but more often relatively narrow as well, led to the water. Along the side of the road in the 18th and 19th century, houses were built based on a traditional Curaçao floor plan: a front gallery with a core and an attic behind it, and sometimes a back gallery. In addition people had a kitchen, and a number of houses had one or more lean-tos (simple connected houses). Of the 18th century houses only one or two examples were preserved, as Pietermaaiweg 77. Other 18th century homes were remodeled or extended in the 19th century. Pietermaaiweg 39 is evidence of that. The house remodeled in the 19th century, still has an 18th century gable on the west side. Along the sides of the alleys smaller dwellings and rows of several lean-tos (simple dwellings) came about.
In the second half of the 19th century neoclassic style characteristics appeared in the architecture of Curaçao. The most important features of this style are the block-shaped building masses, triangular frontons over the doors and windows, molded strings (moldings over the doors and windows) and gutter boards, pilaster strips (vertical bands) at the corners, and balconies on columns. In addition it is striking that in the course of the 19th century larger houses were built in Pietermaai. This trend continued in the 20th century. It also occurred that a low dwelling was raised with a storey. Examples of that are found at Pietermaaiweg 71-73-75 and Nieuwestraat 42-44.
The houses in Pietermaai were built of rubble. This material was used well into the 20th century. Upon the introduction of concrete in the first decades of the 20th century, aggregates were needed. In Curaçao, at the beginning, finger coral was used to that end. It was utilized for instance in Pietermaaiweg 33 through 37, and to raise Pietermaaiweg 71-73-75 with a storey.
Many houses had a cistern in earlier times. If one did not have a cistern, then water was bought from a water seller or from someone in the neighborhood who had a large cistern at his disposal. It is also known of two houses that a bread baking oven used to be part of the premises. (Of course this does not exclude the possibility that in those days there were not more bread baking ovens in Pietermaai)
If one lives so close to the shore as did the inhabitants of Pietermaai Smal, the hurricane season does pose a few risks. People experienced that on the 23rd and 24th of September of 1877. This hurricane that scourged the island then, hit Pietermaai very hard. Several houses were badly damaged or swept away, including the first houses on the south side of the road starting at the Theaterstraat going east, more than likely disappeared at that point in time.
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Pietermaai has always had a mixed population. Ship’s captains and ship owners settled there as long ago as the 18th century. Moreover civil servants, merchants, craftsmen and free Negroes or Mestizos (in Curaçao: people with discernible amounts of both European and African ancestry) lived there. It must have been a pleasant neighborhood, especially for people who preferred to live outside the densely built, stuffy inner-town. In the 20th century the neighborhood was popular as well. An elderly local resident can still remember how people used to like sitting on balconies or terraces in the late afternoon to watch the other inhabitants file past. In those days Pietermaai had several small shops, where one could buy all kinds of groceries. A popular store was the one at the Johan van Walbeeckplein, where Dutch products were available. At the Nieuwestraat a few businesses were established, such as the ice-cream factory of the Maduro family, the bakeries of the Moron and Mensing families, or the furniture workshop of the Cuales’.
Annoyance because of drug addicts and the crime related thereto in the last decades of the 20th century were the reason for the well-to-do inhabitants of the neighborhood to move elsewhere. Pietermaai fell into disrepair. The restorations of the recent years have attracted new inhabitants to Pietermaai. After thorough renovation a number of buildings were divided into apartments. Several offices were also established.
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The well-known Theater Naar in those days was situated at the beginning of Pietermaai Smal at Theaterstraat. It was founded in the second half of the 19th century by Jacob J. Naar on a piece of land with the old number 62. This building was not positioned at the Pietermaaiweg, but somewhat to the back. There was a reason for that: the owner of the premises situated on the east side (old number 60, now Pietermaaiweg 33-35-37, but in those days one house with outbuildings), wanted to keep an uninterrupted view of the city. Therefore an easement was established in 1855, based on which it was not allowed to build more southward than the back wall of old number 60. After the town walls had been pulled down, people started to build on the area between the town and Pietermaai Smal. The free view as a result disappeared as a matter of course. The easement, however, remained in force until 1914. In that year the then owner waived his rights derived from the easement, provided that a theater be built on site. This did not happen until 1930-1931. That was the Roxy Theater, a prominent building with windows with horse-shoe shaped arches. In 1982 it burnt down and regretfully was never reconstructed.
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