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Sunday, July 20, 2025

Colonial gems- Beauty and History

by

20140126

These build­ings cap­ture a mo­ment of his­to­ry, and one nei­ther has to be an ar­chi­tect or his­to­ri­an to ap­pre­ci­ate the beau­ty of these colo­nial struc­tures or their im­por­tance.Pho­tog­ra­ph­er EDI­SON BOODOOS­INGH trav­elled through­out T&T to cap­ture these im­ages, while his­to­ri­an AN­GE­LO BISSES­SARS­INGH pro­vid­ed the in­for­ma­tion on these colo­nial gems.

1. PORT-OF-SPAIN–BOISSIERE HOUSE: Of all the out­stand­ing ex­am­ples of the gin­ger­bread house ar­chi­tec­ture style, this build­ing stands as its fore­most in­car­na­tion. Built in 1904 by Charles E H Boissiere, it was de­signed by Ed­ward Bowen. Though not as large as some of the oth­er homes of the dis­trict, the struc­ture was both fan­ci­ful yet el­e­gant in its ex­e­cu­tion, and it was the fo­cal point of many ar­chi­tec­tur­al pho­to shoots even af­ter it fell in­to di­lap­i­da­tion. The in­te­ri­or is no less or­nate than the fa­cade and in­cludes unique ges­so plas­ter ceil­ings ex­e­cut­ed by an Ital­ian crafts­man. Af­ter many decades of pro­gres­sive ne­glect, this his­toric house was threat­ened with im­pend­ing col­lapse or de­mo­li­tion, but is now be­ing re­stored in a very low-key ef­fort that has caused much spec­u­la­tion to date.

2.BEL­MONT: Like Wood­brook from an ear­li­er era, Bel­mont grew out of a dis­trict of colo­nial plan­ta­tions to be­come a mid­dle-class bed­room set­tle­ment of Port-of-Spain in the mid to late 1800s. It was dis­tin­guished by a strong sense of com­mu­ni­ty spir­it and its own unique iden­ti­ty, where the need for colo­nial re­spectabil­i­ty was mixed with pow­er­ful West African tra­di­tions that per­se­vered in the up­per reach­es of the val­ley. Many of Bel­mont's beau­ti­ful old homes have sur­vived in re­mark­ably good con­di­tion. It is a state of be­ing that will en­dure since the res­i­dents of the area are keen on preser­va­tion of their her­itage.

3. COU­VA: Al­though en­er­gy and the sprawl­ing in­dus­try of Pt Lisas dri­ves the thriv­ing town of Cou­va, sug­ar was once king here. From the 1820s to the demise of the sug­ar in­dus­try, Brechin Cas­tle and its mighty fac­to­ry was the heart of the area's econ­o­my. Cou­va was not on­ly home to labour­ers but rich planters as well, and in both class­es, el­e­gant homes were the or­der of the day. The last plan­ta­tion great-house in the dis­trict was de­mol­ished just a few years ago, but the small­er homes with their whim­sy fret­work and breezy porch­es still harken to a time when good liv­ing and a de­cent fam­i­ly home was prized above all else.

4. SAN FER­NAN­DO-HAP­PY COR­NER HO­TEL AND BAR: The whirl and rush of colour­ful hu­man­i­ty that de­fines a West In­di­an port town has van­ished in Port-of-Spain, but lives on at King's Wharf and the San Fer­nan­do Wa­ter­front which has trans­formed it­self from be­ing a port for sug­ar in the 1800s to a trans­port and fish­ing hub to­day. For over 130 years, the an­cient tav­ern astride the cen­ter of the thor­ough­fare has en­ter­tained those who trav­elled and re­laxed at the wharf. Orig­i­nal­ly a well-re­gard­ed ho­tel owned by a state­ly madame, it has been known by many names over the decades but most­ly so as the Black Cat Bar, and now Hap­py Cor­ner Ho­tel and Bar. It is still a place to go for a beast­ly cold beer and a clos­er look at the ar­chi­tec­ture of the pe­ri­od. It is in­ter­est­ing to note that since its con­struc­tion in the mid-19th cen­tu­ry, the build­ing has re­tained its orig­i­nal use as a ho­tel and bar.

Look out for more colo­nial gems in your Feb­ru­ary 2 Sun­day Guardian.


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