For around two hundred years, the States of Utrecht was housed in this building. This government body was allowed to appoint representatives in the VOC chamber in Amsterdam and the WIC chamber in Maze (Rotterdam). They advocated for the interests of the province of Utrecht, when negotiating the governments’ financial investment in the VOC and WIC. The States of Utrecht also supported the founding of the Utrechtse Compagnie (Company of Utrecht). This company had plantations, ships for the purpose of trafficking enslaved people, and a sugar refinery on the Lucasbolwerk in Utrecht.

The researchers of the book “Slavernij en de stad Utrecht” (2021) did extensive archival research into the involvement of a variety of city government officials in slavery or the slave trade. They found that in the 17th century 21,5 percent of members of the vroedschap (a part of the city government) had investments in colonial countries. This rose to 34 percent in the 18th century.