The entrance of Curaçao’s natural harbor has been a place of great beauty and strategic significance since pre-Columbian times, making it a suitable location for human settlement. From the 16th century onwards, colonizing powers took control and fortified the harbor entrance to protect trade and capital. Today, we know Riffort and Waterfort in their final forms, adapted to military insights at the beginning of the 19th century. They are remnants, now stripped of their military function but well-suited for new societal and commercial purposes.

After World War II, the forts were dismantled and the Curaçao Intercontinental Hotel chose the military area of the fortress as the site for a new and modern hotel in the 1950s style. In the early 1970s, an additional tower was added to accommodate the rapid growth of tourism. Eventually, this function diminished in this urban location, and the buildings were left abandoned in recent years, resulting in a decayed and somewhat dilapidated complex.