History of the Monument

history of the monument

The golden period of Scharloo lasted until the mid-sixties. The need for more and newer houses brought the generations of the fifties and the sixties to other parts of Curacao. Furthermore, life in a Scharloo house had become difficult because the increasing prices of manual labour made the maintenance of these big buildings very expensive. And the many servants necessary to run such a household became impossible to find after the arrival of the Shell company. The local maids preferred to work for the Dutch as they were accorded higher wages and more free time.

Many of the buildings were converted into offices.

Some of the houses that stood empty for a long time have been demolished because they were in such bad condition.

The Scharloo houses have wooden floors, which never touched the ground. The basement of the building was crossed from side to side by low stone walls on which wooden beams were laid to support the floor. The planks were fixed on the beams either with wooden nails or more often with moulded iron nails. The floors were all in pitch pine. The pitch pine was considered very beautiful because it has veins, and it was a very good building material since it was immune to termites.

The same wood was used for the ceilings. The ceilings in the living rooms and galleries were often decorated with stucco ornamentations with floral motifs nailed to them.

The Money Museum is housed in Scharlooweg 11, formerly known as Scharlooweg 62. It is a rectangular house located on the corner of the Nauwesteeg. The house was built between the end of 1925 and the beginning of 1926 by Hendrik Muskus. This house is an early example of a type of house composed of blocks called “kas di kaha,” that was very popular in the suburbs.

The garden was enclosed by a wooden railing with an iron gate; a modern wall is built between the pillars. The stairs and terrace are paved with yellow and brown tiles with a geometrical design. On the front of the building, the two doors and the two windows are crowned by a thin moulding.

The entrance originally led to a sala (living room) divided into two parts by a wall with a wide lowered arch. Three different rooms followed--two bedrooms and in the middle a study. The patio was enclosed by two wings.

Information collected from a.o. “Scharloo” by P. Pruneti Winkel