Zuikertuintje

In 1634 Zuikertuintje was a much larger area that also comprised Bever and Pos Cabai. It was known for its well water, which was of high quality and had a pure taste. Already on the arrival of the Dutch in 1634 a little garden had been laid out here by the Indians, where, among other things, sugar cane was grown. According to M. Visman, the Suykerthuin was then called Chinchorro (an Indian name) or Enchorro (Spanish), words that both indicate the presence of water. Chinchorro is also the name of the area and the bay of Sint Joris, which has been corrupted to Chinchó. The gardens at Zuikertuintje were later taken over by the Spaniards and in 1662 by the Dutch, who extended it into a food plantation for the camps for enslaved people at Zuurzak and Sint Joris. Besides Zuikertuintje, the plantations Piscadera and Rio Canario were also fitted out for this purpose. Zuikertuintje was one of the first nine plantations of the WIC and had already been sold to private individuals in 1700. The landhuis dates from the 19th century, to be precise from 1870, the year stated on one of the dormers on the south side.

Death penalty

In a part of the Zuikertuin lay the commander's or cornet's garden (commandeurs- of cornettuintje), which was repeatedly plundered by soldiers stationed nearby. That led to an official proclamation on 10 March 1636 in which the death penalty was introduced for stealing fruit from the hofjes at Zuikertuintje and at Zuurzak. This hofje must once have been the most beautiful part of the former Ruiterkwartier, with various orchards including beautiful medlar and mango trees. It lay between the plantations Zuikertuintje and the more westerly Groot Davelaar, which from 1888 to 1936 formed one whole. Zuikertuintje and Groot Davelaar were only separated from each other by the construction of the Schottegatweg in 1931. J. van Ditzhuijzen tells in the book Landhuizen van Curaçao that both plantations were until 1906 the property of Mozes Marchena and afterwards of the Winkel family. In 1932 the Winkel family sold Zuikertuintje to a relative of the Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gomez.

Toffie Hofland

The landhuis was afterwards used during WWII as a recreation centre by the society "Koninklijke Vereeniging Onze Vloot" (Royal Association Our Fleet), which treated thousands of crew members of merchant ships and the navy on Curaçao to parlour games, food and drink. The association also had plans to build a seamen's home on the Schapeneiland (Sheep Island) near Koningsplein, but that project did not go ahead. Zuikertuintje later became the central lodging for the scouting movement and then changed into a grocer's, which in 1950 was taken over by the well-known Toffie Hofland, who called it Toko Zuikertuintje. Typically Dutch products were available here, with the tradition of herring and, at the end of the year, oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts). The landhuis was then converted, extended and since 2007 turned into a shopping centre.

See also Ruiterkwartier.