Architectural, Cultural sights in Kingston
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Devon House
This restored home nestles in landscaped grounds on the northwest side of Hope Rd at its junction with Waterloo Rd. A beautiful ochre-and-white house, it was built in 1881 by George Stiebel, a Jamaican wheelwright who hit paydirt in the gold mines of Venezuela. The millionaire rose to become the first black custos of St Andrew. The government bought and restored the building in 1967 to house the National Gallery of Jamaica, which has since moved to its present location downtown. Antique lovers will enjoy the visit, whose highlights include some very ornate porcelain chandeliers. Note the trompe l’oeil of palms in the entrance foyer. Stiebel even incorporated a game room w…
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Giddy House
A small brick hut, the Giddy House (so known because it produces a sense of disorientation to people who enter), sits alone amid scrub-covered, wind-blown sand 100m to the southwest of Fort Charles. The redbrick structure was built in 1888 to house the artillery store. The 1907 earthquake, however, briefly turned the spit to quicksand and one end of the building sank, leaving the store at a lopsided angle.
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B
King’s House
King’s House was initially the home of the Lord Bishop of Jamaica. The original house was badly damaged in the 1907 earthquake. Today’s visitors explore the remake, built in 1909 to a new design in reinforced concrete. The dining room contains two particularly impressive full-length portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
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C
Jamaica House
About half a kilometer further up Hope Rd from Devon House on the left, Jamaica House is faced by a columned portico and fronted by expansive lawns. Initially built in 1960 as the residence of the prime minister, the building today houses the prime minister's office. Visitors are restricted to peering through the fence.
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D
Alexander Bustamante’s House
Although you can’t go inside andt here’s no plaque to mark it, hardcore fans of Jamaica’s first president can pay tribute to Alexander Bustamante’s House, at the southern end of Duke St near the corner of Water Lane. This is the site of the national hero’s former office.
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Old King's House
On the west side of Parade Square is the porticoed Georgian redbrick facade of the ruins of the Old King's House, a once-grandiose building erected in 1762 as the official residence of Jamaica's governors. The building was destroyed by fire in 1925, leaving only the restored facade.
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E
Coke Memorial Hall
Coke Memorial Hall faces the eastern side of William Grant Park. This crenellated building has an austere redbrick facade in the dour Methodist tradition. The structure dates from 1840, but was remodeled in 1907 after sustaining severe damage in the earthquake.
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F
Bramwell Booth Memorial Hall
At the northwest corner of William Grant Park – where public hangings took place in colonial days – the structure with a pink, turreted facade is Bramwell Booth Memorial Hall, the headquarters of the Salvation Army, built in 1933.
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Bob Marley's Former Home
Bob Marley's Former Home is in a depressing slum 'yard' near the Trench Town museum, but only visit with a guide from the TTDA.
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