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Pietermaai Smal

By Jeff Borg

ProMo spotlights architectural heritage to save beautiful face of Willemstad

People recognize Willemstad as if she were a supermodel — unique Amsterdam style, Caribbean colors, graceful colonnades, coral accents. But like other UNESCO World Heritage sites, her architectural heritage was threatened.

So the Pro Monument Foundation (ProMo), formed in 1993 to fight for historic buildings, organizes Monumento Habrí, Open Monument Day (599-9-465-2772, www.monumento.com), when five thousand architecture lovers tour the city's gems.

In 2007, Monumento Habrí focused its spotlight on Pietermaai Smal (Narrow Pietermaai), the isthmus that connects Punda with the rest of Curaçao. Pietermaai Smal sprouted east of Fort Amsterdam, outside city walls, in the 18th century. Captain Pieter de Meij gave the district its name, coming around 1674 and establishing a plantation.

High density inside Willemstad sparked plans in the 18th century to extend fortifications and incorporate Pietermaai. Instead, people decided walls no longer protected them. So they demolished the barriers, and began building up Pietermaai. By the 19th century, neoclassical elements appeared in larger Pietermaai houses — triangular frontons and moldings over doors and windows, pilasters at corners, balconies on columns.

Pietermaai had always hosted a colorful cast of characters — ship owners and captains, civil servants, merchants, craftsmen, free negroes, and mestizos — who preferred life outside the stuffy inner town. But in the late 20th century, drug addicts and criminals ran decent folks out, and the district fell into disrepair.

However, with the renaissance of recent years, facilitated by the Pro Monument Foundation, new residents, apartments, offices, and other investments are returning to Pietermaai Smal.