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Design of a building for the government secretariat

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Design of a building for the government secretariat

Hurter, Johan Conrad

Title Leupe: Plan van een nieuw gebouw te Paramaribo (waarschijnlijk gouvernementssecretarie).

This design by Johan Conrad Hurter relates to a plot due west of the Governor’s residence, letter (D) on the 1775 ground plan on VELH614. On this land, which was initially owned by the West India Company and is indicated as such on the cadastral plan from 1722 on VEL1718, between 1743 and 1777, an older brick dwelling housed the so-called Commandement or Commandery; the official residence of the commander-in-chief of the garrison in the service of the Surinam Society. At first the building had to be rented by the commander, but in 1758 the entire parcel was purchased by the Society. The Commandery was extended in 1775, but two years later it burned down completely and Hurter was commissioned to design a new residence with outbuildings for the commander. The surviving plans and drawings are shown on VELH608B. However, eventually the project was called off; instead in 1786 the building of the Government Secretariat arose a little farther to the east on the same premises, also designed by Hurter as can be seen here. A few years later on the site of the former Commandery and the path which ran behind it (O), the access road to the suburb of Combé was constructed

Scale-bar of 40 Rhineland feet = [approximately 1 : 60].

Please contact Nationaal Archief for reuse and copyrights.

Sources and literature

Heijer, H. den, Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie = Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, II, de nieuwe WIC 1674-1791 = the new WIC 1674-1791 (2012)

Groll, Temminck, De architektuur van Suriname