The Red House is popularly believed to have been burnt down in 1903 and then rebuilt, so the current building is usually dated from then.In fact, it's half a century older.As the saying suggests, the famous Red House fire didn't last long. The building was not burnt to the ground–photos taken at the time show the structure remained intact, though the roof, wooden floors and windows were destroyed. The debris was cleared out and the skeleton of the building was not demolished, but refurbished.
The 1903 fire was only one of several setbacks the Red House has suffered since 1844, when the foundation stone was laid on February 15 by the Governor, Col Sir Henry MacLeod.The new building was to house the legislative chamber and the offices of the governor, the colonial treasurer, the attorney general, other colonial officials and the law courts. It was designed by the Superintendent of Public Works, Richard Bridgens, an English-born artist who was not an engineer or architect but a furniture designer by training.
That was one of the reasons why the building ran into trouble shortly after construction began. The roof was too heavy for the beams that supported it, and work came to a stop while that problem was addressed. There were huge cost overruns (the original allocation for the entire building was �16,000) and allegations of corruption in the award of the contract.
Then the Treasury ran out of money altogether. Eventually the new Governor, Lord Harris, found some funds to make the building fit for use and declared it open in 1848. At this point it was still little more than a bare brick shell, although Bridgens–who had died in 1846–had probably planned a neoclassical finish. As Cazabon's 1850 drawings show, it was actually two very plain, boxy buildings joined by a colonnade, because Prince Street ran through the centre and the roadway had to be kept open.
The following year, these new Government Buildings came under attack for the first time when there was a riot over a plan to treat debtors like common criminals. The intrepid Lord Harris spent a night under siege in the building, which was guarded by troops. A number of rioters were arrested, and one was shot dead, but apart from some broken windows, the building was undamaged.
In the 1890s the building was given �15,000 worth of additions and alterations, and in 1897, for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, it was painted red and thus got its new name.
Six years later, however, during another protest, on March 23, 1903, the Red House went up in flames in the most famous fire ever lit in Port-of-Spain. An angry crowd was protesting against an increase in water rates that was being debated in the Legislative Council's chamber. The Riot Act was read, 16 people were killed, and in the confusion the Red House went up in flames.
After the fire, the design was reworked by public draughtsman Daniel Hahn. It was he who added the high central cupola now known as the Rotunda, the ornate stucco ceilings in the southern and northern chambers, and the parapet around the roof.The Red House that emerged from the flames was the one we know today, based on the barnlike structure first begun 159 years ago last week.
Click here to check out Raquel La Roche's Red House restoration photoblog
