Stylized Creativity

The lifestyle and culture of people are reflected in the architecture of a country. 

The Bossierre House also known as the ‘gingerbread’ styled house is one of the magnificent seven buildings which encompasses the Queens Park Savannah.   

This Georgian style of architecture is from the 1800’s when the British architect, George Brown introduced it to Trinidad and Tobago. 

Bossierre House lit in red for Independance and Republic Day

The architectural design of the Bossierre house reflects the plantation lifestyle and culture of the colonial period when slavery formed an intrinsic part of society.  The characteristics of the George Brown styled house is the stilts that raise the floor, the wrap- around porch, the open living floor plan and the large nursery bedroom located at the back of the house close to the servants quarters.

Bossierre House lit in red for Independance and Republic Day.

George Brown styled house recently restored.

The Bossierre house, declared a heritage building by the Citizens for the Conservation of Trinidad and Tobago has stood in disrepair for many years and was finally restored to its original glory in 2013 by Junior Sammy’s company.  The building reflects the lifestyle of our colonial past but it is now nightly lit by different coloured lights depending on the season. I am at a lost as to the stylistic symbolism of the coloured lights other than it is someone’s idea of creativity.  To see the Bossiere house lit in purple light or brilliant red light is indeed a travesty of confused creativity, I can understand coloured lights on the modern styled architecture of the Hyatt hotel, since those lights accentuate the clean lines of that building and it is in keeping with the modern style of the the waterfront buildings.

Waterfront buildings.