The left-half of the building was designed by the architect-painter Bartholomeus van Bassen.

[1] He oversaw both projects in his role as city architect and headman of the Guild of St. Luke.

After he died in 1652, the local painters became dissatisfied with the guild and founded the Confrerie Pictura in 1656, which met upstairs.

[1] In 1681 the right half was built as an extension, and new scales were installed inside that can still be seen by visitors to the café there.

In 2013 a replica of the 17th-century brass bell was replaced on the facade that had been stolen in 1980s.