Things that Matter: Where’s the Pride? Where’s the sense?
This column was prompted by four incidents, separate but deeply related. The first was a column titled “Where’s the pride?” written by “AL” in the Sunday papers of May the first. There were six photos of historic buildings which have fallen to ruin. They were: The Eyrie, residence of Sir Conrad Reeves, the first black chief Justice in Barbados, the Caribbean and the British Commonwealth, on the Barbados Community College compound, with a forty foot tree growing out of the last remaining, unique, historic “fish pond” roof in the island – the roof tank used to water Sir Conrad’s garden; next came the magnificent Belfield Mansion, the former residence of National Hero Samuel Jackman Prescod, a gift to the government by Barbadian Dr. Nightengale, and home to hundreds of orphans for fifty years, now left to go to ruin at the Nightengale Children’s Home, because of a leaking roof; third came the Empire Theatre, closed in 1975 and a victim of promise after promise; fourth was Dalmenie on Pine Hill, next to the Central Bank governor’s residence; number five was the large Pine Plantation House, abandoned three and a half years ago; and number six was Queen’s Park House, also abandoned, nine years ago, rather than fixing the leaking roof!
The thoughtful journalist “AL” could have added The Old Eye Hospital, Erdiston House, Culloden Farm, St. Mary’s Boys School, the Old Supreme Courthouse and the Carnegie Library, and completed the dirty dozen derelicts of our UNESCO World Heritage site. And she could have added a couple of privately owned derelicts as well, such as the remaining half of the Marshall Hall, owned by ICBL, and several balconied town houses on Roebuck Street and elsewhere. And among the derelict buildings in the countryside is the gem at the Grantley Adams Secondary School … the Slave Hospital gutted by fire some nine years ago and still awaiting repair. All of these wasted heritage treasures, in which we have no pride and are certainly not strict guardians, are a wasted economic resource. In fact, the huge sum of 65 million dollars – that’s right, 65 MILLION dollars - spent in rent every year by government would repair all of the dozen government buildings and have some left over!
The second incident was the report by Senator Wilfred Abrahams in the Senate that two chunks of concrete had this week fallen off the front or Eastern side of the “bridge” between the Old Registry and the Old Supreme Court. This bridge houses a little Court Number 5, and inspection shows that chunks of concrete have also fallen off of the Western side – so the risk of personal injury is on-going. Meanwhile, two wooden posts of the veranda on the Eastern facade of the Supreme Court itself have rotted, collapsing, and causing the veranda roof to lean for the last several months. The authorities’ response has been to prop the roof with metal poles and concrete blocks. Is this the best we can do? Actually, I’ve been recommending for years the demolition of this ugly bridge, which defaces the splendid South façade of the Supreme Court, one of our most valuable historic treasures.
In fact, a cabinet paper has been prepared by the Ministry of Culture to have the Old Supreme Court included in the restoration and upgrading of the abandoned Carnegie Library, a few feet away, to provide the desperately needed computer labs, exhibition space, offices, meeting rooms, et cetera, needed by a modern library, for which the Carnegie Library Restoration Project of the Preservation Task Force and Preservation Trust is raising funds.
The third incident was the report in the Senate on the acquisition of a plot of land needed for the Vocational Training Centre at St. Luke’s. It was revealed that the Vocational Training Programme is carried out at a number of old primary school buildings – an excellent example of adaptive re-use. These buildings are ideal for hands-on training experience! It would be even better if some of our derelict buildings were used for this purpose, giving hands on training in the relevant building and restoration skills needed, and a win-win situation, resulting in buildings that could be used for training, community centres, offices, et cetera, and a reduction in our huge rental costs. It’s common sense.
The fourth incident was yet another recent remark to me about the alleged high cost of restoring abandoned buildings. This is a myth, perpetuated over and over, as part of the justification for our naive national preference for all things new, and simply does not agree with the facts we at the National Trust have been finding. In most cases of restoration of abandoned, derelict or decaying buildings, restoration is carried out for roughly two thirds of the cost per square foot of a standard concrete building with average finish. Unless, of course, like the Garden, birthplace of National Hero The Right Excellent Errol Barrow, or like Kingston in Welches, everything is overtaken by jungle!
A few of many examples will suffice, with figures which contractors and owners have permitted me to share. My favourite example is the wonderful job done by the Ministry of Transport and Works to restore Verona, Bank Hall – a mid-18th century residence, once our maternity hospital. Trees were growing out of the building after the roof collapsed. It was restored for just $216 per square foot, including labour costs, back-up generator, air conditioning and security systems, and now serves as the Electrical Dept. of M T and W.
Another outstanding example was the restoration of the almost derelict mansion Hastings House, by Rotherley Construction. Gutting the building, removing ugly 1950s additions, returning doors, windows and detailing to original structure and function, adding and elegant matching portico, many modern restrooms, new plumbing and wiring, all to the highest standards of finish, came in at only $202 per square foot. Standard middle class houses have been in the $300 to $400 range, and let’s not reference the apartments at the Grotto!
And we could go on, if I had more room in this column. But what we have to remember is the maxim REDUCE, RECYCLE, REUSE, and ADAPTIVE REUSE of old buildings has huge advantages at many, many levels. After all, Harrison College, The Lodge School, the Waterfront Café and dozens of other successes are all examples of adaptive reuse! Of overwhelming importance too is the fact that repair and restoration need more labour and less materials and foreign exchange than new buildings … and that has huge and far-reaching benefits for both employment and our economy and balance of foreign exchange!
But of the GREATEST importance are those last lines of our National Anthem’s chorus … if we are not strict guardians of our heritage, built by firm craftsmen of the past, we will lose our UNESCO World Heritage status, the only real light in our tourism tunnel, and the only thing that will give us a competitive edge in dealing with the challenge of Cuba, with its NINE World Heritage sites. Perhaps our national motto should be pride, industry and common sense!
(Professor Fraser is past Dean of Medical Sciences, UWI and Professor Emeritus of Medicine. Website: profhenryfraser.com)