(Oranjestad)—For more than seven years, the Aruba Monument Fund (SMFA) had been looking for a partner interest in restoring the building situated at Wilhelmina Street #7. This is a building has a tremendous historical value, and is build with a unique style of architecture, traditional for Aruba. Now SMFA can happily announce to the public that the house building of Cas Veneranda has been acquired and will soon be undergoing restoration.
This is all with the cooperation of the Aruban government, after Minister Geoffrey Wever expressed his interest to house some of his ministerial department in this historic building located in the down town Oranjestad. After much discussion, a mutual agreement has been reached that Cas Veneranda would be the ideal office building for the Department of Economic Affairs (DEACI).
The Agreement
On April 20th, the minister of economy, Mr. Geoffrey Wever, along with the director of SMFA and in the presence of the foundation’s board, APFA and representatives of the Arends Family—owners of the building, the agreement for the purchase, restoration and the renting of the Cas Veneranda building. SMFA can now continue its plan for the restoration.
The Restoration
The next phase includes conducting the necessary investigations on the state of the building, appointing the right architect, designing the project, preparing for the project and finally the actual restoration process. It has been calculated that the restoration will take approximately two years to finish. In the mean time, the community of Aruba can count on a fully-restored Cas Veneranda by 2025. This building will have a space available for a small restaurant/café as to make this monument accessible to the public too, instead of just functioning as a government office.
Protection
Up until now, the monument did not have the necessary protection it needed, which posed a great threat of losing the building to investors who may not care about the historical value behind this building. The moment that SMFA concludes the purchase of the building, there will e petition made to the Bureau of Monuments for its protection and official recognition as an Aruban monument.
Financing
The project of restoration will be financed by the Dutch National Restoration Fund (NRF) and the Aruba General Pension Fund in the form of a loan with low taxes to SMFA. During a recent visit to Aruba, the NRF visited the location and confirmed their interest to finance this project. In order to make this project possible, Minister Geoffrey Wever made sure to acquire a contribution of 690 thousand florins in the form of a subsidy to buy the building.
History of Cas Veneranda
This impactful building in Wilhelmina Street was constructed in 1936 by Frederico Maximiliaan (Machi) Arends, who was a consul for Spain.
The architect at the time was the renowned Dada Picus, who went all the way to Cartagena, Colombia to find an inspiration from a building that Machi’s wife, Maria Veneranda, was infatuated with. Afterwards he came back to Aruba to build the building we now know as Cas Veneranda. At that time, this was one of the biggest houses built on Aruba, with a Latin American Neo-baroque style.
Apart from being a home, the building was also home to a flower shop, an ice cream parlor and the consulate for Spain. During the 1990s, the building became the Papiamento Restaurant. After the restaurant moved out the building, this was left empty. In 2014, a big fire destroyed a big part of the interior. For safety reasons, this building was later closed down.
The Aruba Monument Fund
The SMFA was founded in 1996 and is a non-profit organization in charge of acquiring, restoring, renting and maintaining Aruban monuments. Aside from this, they also focus on education and raising awareness about the importance of our monuments as part of our cultural heritage. Cas Veneranda is the 17th monument that is owned by SMFA.
In good cooperation with the Arends Family, Minister Wever, SMFA, NRF and APFA, we can preserve Cas Veneranda and his valuable history for future generations.
