Landhuis Brievengat

Landhuis Brievengat is one of the better preserved of the island's plantation houses, an eighteenth-century building with a broad tiled roof and two open galleries projecting from opposite corners, features found on very few of the surviving landhuizen. It was a cattle and aloe estate and later fell derelict before restoration in the 1950s. Rooms are furnished to the period and the house is used for events, which means it is sometimes closed to visitors.

What you actually see

• The corner galleries - the two open projections that distinguish the house.
• The period rooms - interiors furnished to the eighteenth century.
• The tiled roof - the broad roof structure typical of the island's landhuizen.
• The estate history - the cattle and aloe operation the house was built for.

When to go

Year round on daytime hours. It is sometimes closed for private events. An hour covers the house.

Honest expectations

Events regularly close the house to casual visitors and hours are unreliable. The interpretation is thin and largely furniture-based. The surrounding area is suburban and unattractive.

Nearby

Willemstad is southwest, and Fort Nassau is above the harbour.