CURAÇAO HERITAGE FOUNDATION
FEATURED PROPERTY
DISCOVER THE COLORS OF HISTORIC WILLEMSTAD
In the oldest part of the city you can now only find a handful of buildings from the 17th century. From the subsequent 18th century several beautiful merchant houses are preserved. These are built in the typical Curaçao baroque style with its curved façade lines, scrolls and arcades in the façades.
Thanks to a flourishing colonial trade the prosperity can clearly be seen in these 18th century monuments. The subsequent architecture from the first half of the 19th century is quite subdued.
During the second half of the 19th century the local architectural style is mainly influenced by the neo-classicism in both a simple and a more exuberant form. This style has spawned several stately symmetrical buildings in particularly the districts Scharloo and Otrobanda. Plenty of construction took place downtown in the 20th century; in particular in commercial districts. Some specific examples can be found in the Functionalism and Art Deco.