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I grieve over the slow architectural death of City Hall

Oct 09, 2011 Letters

 

 

Dear Editor,
Sheik Hassan in his useful and informative publication historical Georgetown, writes thus:
“The City Hall at the corner of Regent Street and the Avenue of the Republic is considered by many as the most handsome building in Georgetown.” Designed by Father Ignatius Scoles, S.J, a trained architect, the foundation stone was laid on Dec. 23rd 1887 and the building was opened on July 1st 1889.
The City Hall is an interpretation in wood of the masonry construction “fancy-dress” style Gothic Revival Architecture prevalent during the Victorian era in Great Britain.”
Very many tourist brochures list the City Hall as a ‘must see’ because of its splendid Gothic architecture in wood.
New tourist brochures should desist from sending persons to see City Hall today, because of what is not happening with this once beautiful building.
Is there a budget line in the Ministry of Culture that says “Maintenance/Upkeep of Historic Buildings/Sites? With apt explanations of course of how far this is intended to go?
Are we not all proud of these historic heritage sites? If we are, then we need to show our pride differently.
I am personally grieving over the slow historical and architectural death of City Hall. As I look at the face of this building from the Regent Street end, the Charlotte Street end as well-as the side facing Avenue of the Republic and see the unattended timber decay, pieces of the exterior wails of the building are rotting and are falling away. Windows are in a deplorable state. There was a report a few years ago of bee infestation in the loftier southern sections of this once beautiful “Gothic” structure.
Two questions constantly come to my mind:
1. What does it mean when we say a building is a “Heritage Building”?
2. Who is responsible at the national level for the physical maintenance of these historic buildings?
Incidentally, as a proud citizen of Guyana, I am becoming equally anxious when I look at the eastern, northern and southern exterior of yet another of our heritage buildings— St. George’s Cathedral. Its timber on these two exterior walls especially needs urgent attention.
What does “Heritage Building” mean? Who is responsible for what? What is the extent of this responsibility?
Joyce Sinclair

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