Design for the governor's house in Nieuw-Amsterdam

Title Leupe: Plans, platte gronden, opstanden voor gebouwen voor de nieuwe stad, het gouvernement enz.

The military engineer Jan Carel Willem Herlin, who arrived in Berbice early in 1780 and was d’Arnaud’s successor, drew a design in that same year for the new main guard in Fort Nassau (in fact still the provisional fortifications of 1764), which only reached the republic in 1785. In response to his new main guard proposal, the directors informed him that both that plan and any subsequent plans for Nieuw-Amsterdam would not be required because they had meanwhile asked Abraham van der Hart to produce a whole new range of plans for the town.

Herlin was instructed to henceforth channel his energy into reinforcing Fort Sint Andries and the other posts on the lower reaches of the Berbice so that the colony would become more resistant to possible attacks from the sea (see VEL1619). At the same time, he had to ensure that Nieuw-Amsterdam remained sufficiently defended to prevent it from having to be evacuated, as in 1763, in the event of another slave rebellion. Finally, he was to construct the governor’s official residence as well as that of the collector-general. The drawing of the former building bears his name even though it is probably a copy, judging by the handwriting and lettering. Next to two floor plans, two profiles and a façade three technical drawing of the beam constructions are included. Its location can be found on the cartographer’s map VEL1659, indicated with the letter d.

Scale-bar of 48 Rhineland feet = 12 ‘strepen’.

Inscription

<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;"><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;"><em>Explanations</em>: [above the separate drawings] descriptions : </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Stand Gesigt van de Voor en Agter Geevel. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Profil in de Breedte Doorgesneeden. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Profil in de Lengte Door Gesneeden. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Verdeeling der Derde Solder Balken. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Verdeeling der Twede Solder Balken. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Platte Grond van de Eerste Verdieping. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Platte Grond van de Twede Verdieping. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">Verdeeling der Eerste Solder Balken. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">[rechtsboven] een legenda bij de letters A t/m L : </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">[upper right] a key to the letters A to L : </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">A. Raads kaamer. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">B. Comtoir. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">C. kaamer voor die geene welke met Het Hoff te doen heeft. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">D. Spreekkaamer. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">E kaamer. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">F. Voor Huys. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">G Secreet. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">H. Eet kaamer. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">I. Zaal. </p><p style="font-size:11.5pt;margin:0;">K. kaamer. </p><p style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:9pt;margin:0;"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:11.5pt;">L Passage om booven in de kaamers te koomen.</span></p></div>

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