Wooden heritage
Editorial
Stabroek News
February 7, 2003
It is appropriate that the meeting on ‘Wooden Urban Heritage in the Caribbean Region’ should be held in Georgetown. After all, once upon a time this city was the most complete wooden capital in the hemisphere. Whether it can still claim that distinction is unclear, since Paramaribo in particular has done so much work to restore its traditional aspect, while historical Georgetown has gone into sad decline. However, perhaps the meeting will draw attention to what remains of our wooden urban heritage, and help raise the level of public awareness both to its aesthetic value, and its importance for our sense of cultural definition.
And make no mistake, our wooden urban heritage is unique. It owes that uniqueness not just to the work of outstanding architects like Castellani, Sharples or Scoles, but also to the countless unnamed contractors and carpenters who worked with home-owners, pandits and moulvis to evolve a secular and a religious style which was not just graceful, but also functional in our tropical climate. That style was eclectic, blending architectural features from one place or another at different points, such as classical elements, fretwork, balustrading, shingles and decorative coloured glass.
Nevertheless, what emerged by the second half of the nineteenth century was something quintessentially Guyanese - beautiful buildings which above all else encouraged the circulation of air and were cool. As Guyanese know, one of the inventions which contributed to the comfort of local interiors was the Demerara shutter, whose tray was packed with ice when available, allowing the breezes to circulate cooled air around a room.
If one looks at pictures of early Georgetown, one gets some idea of how the architecture evolved. There were certain things, like shingling to protect the walls of a building, dating back here at least to the eighteenth century and possibly earlier, which were retained. But there were others, such as the steep, narrow roofs catering for the winter conditions of northern Germany and the Netherlands, which were eventually jettisoned. This climate made its own demands, and the local carpenters and contractors responded in a spirit of innovation and ingenuity.
What made Georgetown exceptional some thirty years ago, was that one could wander through street after street of delightful wooden buildings, each one exhibiting a certain individuality conferred by the builder. Fretwork, front doors, and other details, carried the stamp of the carpenter who had crafted them, or sometimes the owner who had commissioned them. And this applied not only to the spacious houses of the better off, but also to the homes of the working class, where the smaller scale often allowed the detailing to be displayed to greater advantage.
We have, unfortunately, been very delinquent in relation to our material heritage, largely because we have become alienated from our own cultural traditions. Raising the level of public consciousness about the value of our built inheritance is essential, if we are to persuade those with money who have been defacing the city with some eccentric styles over the past two decades, that there are more aesthetic alternatives.
In addition, people need to be persuaded that a wooden heritage is a money-earner in terms of tourism. Tourists will come to an aesthetic wooden city - heritage tourism is now big business world-wide - but they will certainly not come to see the concrete monstrosities which now deface our urban landscape. It is time that the Ministry of Tourism drafted plans for an education campaign at all levels in the society.
