Jamaican historical structures - Malabre House

Today, the Sunday Gleaner, in collaboration with the Institute of Jamaica, begins a series on 'Jamaican Historical Structures', highlighting famous monuments, structures and buildings throughout the island. We begin with Malabre House on North Street, Kingston.

MALABRE HOUSE at 11 North Street, Kingston, is among the most beautiful and important examples of 19th century townhouse architecture.

It was originally the property of the merchant family of Malabre who were of Haitian descent. They reached the zenith of their wealth and influence in the last 20 years of the 19th century. The family had at least three houses on North Street, in addition to an attractive house on East Street and another at "The Grove" in Gordon Town.

The main facade of Malabre House faces North Street, with the remaining lot extending to the back on Little North Street.

Research suggests that the main house was originally an 18th century single-story brick building with a very highly steeped hip roof which underwent expansion (if not reconstruction) sometime in the 19th century. The house would have been laid out in a more or less symmetrical plan with glazed sash windows, all proportioned in the Georgian fashion. To the rear of the main building would have been servants' quarters and a carriage house around an elegant courtyard.

From the 1950s the building housed the Jamaica School of Art until 1976 when it was moved to Arthur Wint Drive. Thereafter it was the temporary home of the African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica.

Today, a programme of restoration is being undertaken by the Institute of Jamaica to house the Museum of Jamaican Music at Malabre House.

Development plans include an "Artists-in-Residence" programme which will see the buildings around the central courtyard being used again by artists.

Nine artists are in residence at Malabre House. They are members of a co-operative called "Artists for Studio Development Committee". The group comprises sculptor Phillip Supersad, artists Petrona Morrison, Stanford Watson, Nicholas Morrison, Ritula Frankel and Basil Watson.

Meanwhile, a bursary in the name of Delves Molesworth has been awarded to a graduate student of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), who will occupy studio space at Malabre House for one year, producing a body of work. Mr. Molesworth was a member of the Institute of Jamaica who, along with Edna Manley, helped to lay the foundation for the development of Jamaican art.

Veteran artist David Pottinger will also retain studio space there. Mr. Pottinger was associated with the development of the Jamaican art movement in the 1940s, and trained at Malabre House when the Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts opened there in 1950.

The Institute has also begun a Community Art Project at Malabre House, with weekly sessions in art and craft designed to expose children from the surrounding communities to the various disciplines of painting, drawing, ceramics, and fabric art. The artists at Malabre House have volunteered to conduct these "hands-on" sessions on a rotating basis.

Research source: Jamaica Journal published by the Institute of Jamaica.

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