Public Building East and Public Building West

Parish: Kingston

Public Buildings East and West, which date from around 1909, were among the early structures in the city of Kingston to utilise concrete in its construction. According to Johnson, when erected these structures brought “panache to Kingston, and made King Street, the pride of the Caribbean” (Johnson, 2002, 14). This is evident from the design of these three storey structures which display features of the neoclassical architecture. Neoclassical or “new” classical architecture began in the 17th and 18th centuries as a response to a movement expressing order and rationality in societies of Europe and later in the United States. It was, however, most predominant in the late 1800’s. It basically mimics a revival of classical architecture that of ancient Greece and Rome, but without the details and shows the architect’s intension to utilize logic in volume. The typical neoclassical building has very grand features in some elements of the structures that utilise this style (Melhado, personal communication, 2014). These buildings, the Public Building East and Public Building West display a series of stately dramatic columns and a prolonged ground floor arcade. Its clean lines, geometric simplicity and forms also make the building distinctly neoclassical. This style was a deliberate step away from the flamboyance of Baroque and Greek Revival Architecture to a more restrained return to the traditional Classical Architecture. The featured buildings are built on a monument level as an initial attempt to capture the core feature of neoclassicism. Other noted features are stacking of the columns (colonnade) that are foremost in decorating the facade (Melhado, personal communication, 2014).

Sources:

Clarke, C. (2006). Kingston Jamaica – Urban Development and Social Change, 1692-2002. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers
Johnson, A. (2002). City of Kingston Souvenir – Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the City Charter 1802-2002. Kingston: ISKAMOL
Morris, M. (1995). Tour Jamaica. Kingston: Gleaner Company
http://supremecourt.gov.jm/content/jurisdiction Retrieved June 6, 2014
http://supremecourt.gov.jm/content/court-structure-and-hierarchy Retrieved June 6, 2014
Personal Communication, Otmar Melhado, 2014