In his latest book, Caribbean Houses:History, Style & Architecture, Decorative Arts scholar Dr. Michael Connors highlights the characteristics of architectural styles that can still be seen on buildings throughout the region as testimony to its rich history. The five European powers that colonised the Caribbean – Spain, England, France, Holland and Denmark, each brought their own influences to the islands so that there is no single definitive Caribbean architectural style. What is common to all, however, is their use of  native materials – exotic hardwoods like mahogany and indigenous stone such as coral limestone. Over the next few pages Dr Connors highlights some of the finest examples of architecture that can be  found throughout the Caribbean and offers some unique insights into the fascinating history that accompanies them…

English Islands: colonial plantations
“Alone among the colonists, the British brought their own ways and styles from English country houses to the tropics. All the other nationalities who came here adapted to a tropical lifestyle – but the British transplanted the same fashions, whether in diet, dress or architecture that they would have enjoyed at home, to retain their mother country’s styles in the heat and humidity of the Caribbean. St Nicholas Abbey on Barbados – not an abbey at all, most likely an affectation – was built about 1650.  It recalls English manor houses of the 17th century, with a formal approach garden. The design was probably influenced by early Anglo Dutch trade – the Jacobean Dutch style being popular in England at the time.”

Every Wednesday from mid-January to mid-April, The Barbados National Trust offers an open-house programme where both historical and modern private homes are open for public viewing including St Nicholas Abbey.
• Tel: 246-426-2421

ST LUCIA
“The residence of St Lucia’s Governor General is one of the island’s few remaining examples of 19th century architecture. Its cast iron ornamentation, including a crown, and its Palladian windows make it unique.”

Open to the public: Tues. and Thurs. 10-noon and 2-4, by appointment only tel: 758/452-2481

FRENCH LESSER ANTILLES: CREOLE ESTATES
“Habitation La Fregate, built in 1704 near Le Francois, is one of the oldest houses on Martinique and has the rustic elegance characteristic of French colonial island architecture. Among its most prominent features are the orange fish scale tiles on the roof. These were produced in nearby La Poterie, where the soil has the desired clay content. Similar tiles were used throughout the French islands and shipped to other Caribbean countries. Established in 1694, La Poterie is one of the few remaining tile and brick factories that continues to function today. La Fregate is painted a pink-orange, the colour of the surrounding bougainvillea flowers, and the shutters borrow their blue from the sky and the sea – the colours being taken from the surrounding tropical environment.” 

DANISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
“The Danes bought the islands now known as The US Virgin Islands from the French in 1735. As the last colonising Europeans to come to the region, they added their own architectural style to the islands with extravagant great houses and sugar estates not found elsewhere. During the mid-18th century the Danish planters (especially those in St Croix) gave fanciful names to their plantations. These names, such as Wheel of Fortune, Anna’s Hope, Betsy’s Jewel and The Whim, expressed their vanity and pride. The Whim Plantation was founded in the 1740s, and the great house is one of the most distinctive in the Caribbean. Owned by Christopher McEvoy, son of a Scottish immigrant and one of St Croix’s wealthiest and largest landowners, it was built of cut coral and is unique in design, with semicircular curved ends.”

SPANISH ANTILLES: THE EARLY COLONIAL ERA
“The Spanish were the first rulers of the New World and so their buildings show styles from much earlier periods than those built by the French, English and Dutch. Renaissance and even Romanesque influences can be seen in the graceful arcades, facades and columns of their lavish houses. Alcazar de Colon was built to impress as the headquarters of the Spanish Court. Sometimes called the Columbus Palace, it was constructed of massive blocks of coral limestone for Diego Columbus, son of the explorer. It was built in 1510, reputedly by 1000 Amerindians under the supervision of 48 Spanish master builders Many of the construction techniques used by the Spanish in the Caribbean have a mixture of Spanish and Moorish styles (Mudejar) and Alcazar‘s Italian style façade has both Mudejar and Gothic influences.”

Alcazar is open to the public Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm, Sunday from 9am to 4pm. 

DUTCH LEEWARDS: CONQUEST OF COMMERCE
“Wealthy Dutch merchants established trading towns on the islands throughout the 19th century and so the architecture in Willemstad, Curaçao is unmistakably Dutch, recalling that of Amsterdam. Villa Maria was built in the 1880s in the neo-Greek style, thought to be the purest interpretation of the neo-classical style. Among the characteristics of Greek temple architecture is the portico with Doric columns .The bright colours of houses in Willemstad give the town its distinctive look. Rumour has it that in 1917 the colonial Governor General of Curaçao, Albert Kikkert, found the sun’s reflection on the whitewashed buildings gave him migraines and decreed that all buildings be painted ‘any colour other than white’.”