REMARKS
BY:
THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING
THE HON. SYLVAN RICHARDS JP MP
ON LISTED BUILDINGS
OCTOBER 31ST 2013
Good morning,
Thank you, members of the media, for coming today.
Following a month-long public consultation, I am pleased to
announce today that the Department of Planning has added eight
more buildings to the list of architecturally and/or historically
significant buildings in Bermuda.
These eight include Sessions House, Cabinet Office, Magistrates
Court, the Old Town Hall, City Hall, Perot’s Post Office, Par-La-Ville,
and the Victoria Bandstand.
These are the first buildings to be listed in the City of Hamilton since
the Anglican Cathedral was listed in 1983.
For anyone who may not know, a ‘listed building’ is a building or
structure which is considered to be of 'special architectural or
historic interest’. Planning permission is required for the demolition
or the making of any material alteration to the external appearance
of a Listed Building.
I am delighted to report that the feedback we received from the
owners and occupiers of these buildings as well as the general
public during the consultation period was unanimously positive in
support of listing the buildings.
Some of the feedback was from people seeking clarification on the
listing process and what it means exactly for a building to be listed,
which the Department of Planning was more than happy to provide,
however, there were no objections.
These buildings are of historic and cultural importance and are
symbols of Bermuda, and its government and economic centre
Hamilton, and therefore it brings me great pleasure to see them
added to the list of architecturally and/or historically significant
buildings in Bermuda.
Each property was evaluated by the Historic Buildings Advisory
Committee on twelve criteria, including historic association,
architectural importance, rarity, and period integrity.
Age is only one criterion and one of the buildings proposed was
completed as recently as 1960, this being the iconic City Hall,
designed by the celebrated Bermudian architect Wil Onions.
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Other buildings, however, are steeped in heritage, such as the Old
Town Hall, which is the oldest surviving building in the City. Built in
1784 as the Customs House, it was used for meetings of the
Legislature between 1815 and 1817, while from 1875 to 1968 it
housed the city’s fire engines.
The Sessions House was completed in 1818 and in the 1890s the
signature terracotta decorated clock tower and south colonnade
were added for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It has also been the
site of some of the most momentous events in our island’s history,
such as freeing the enslaved men, women and children from the US
Brig Enterprise in 1835.
The Cabinet Office was opened in 1841 as the Public Building,
which housed the Customs and Treasury offices on the ground floor
and the Governor’s Council and Secretariat on the upper floor. In
1849 it also housed the island’s first public library.
Perot’s Post Office was built circa. 1842 by William Bennett Perot,
who designed his now highly sought after one penny stamp.
Magistrates Court was originally built in 1869 to house the Post
Office and Telegraph Office and by 1900 it became the General Post
Office.
‘Par-la-Ville’ (which means ‘by the town’) was built on a five acre
plot adjacent to the Town boundary, between 1801-1816, and the
gardens partially survive as Queen Elizabeth II Park. The property
was acquired by the Corporation in 1900 and from 1902 it housed
the Natural History Museum and from 1917, the Bermuda Library.
Finally, the cast iron designed Bandstand was imported from
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Scotland to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee of 1887,
and in 2008/9 it was carefully restored by the Corporation.
I am pleased that one of the newly listed buildings, Magistrate’s
Court, has been recently renovated and will be the new home of the
Department of Workforce Development. It is a pleasure to see
historic buildings being re-used and renovated for future use –
demonstrating that historical buildings can in fact be
renovated…and don’t have a finite life.
In closing, I would like to also take this opportunity to inform you
that The Department of Planning and the Historic Buildings
Advisory Committee has organized a free walking tour of these
buildings for World Town Planning Day on Friday 8th November at
12:30pm starting at City Hall.
I encourage as many of you as possible to take advantage of this tour
and see our national treasures.
Thank You.
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