Nassau, Bahamas -Something unique is taking place on Shirley Street. Centreville House and its grounds is undergoing a restoration. Eventually, the house itself will be fully renovated to its former splendor at which time it will become the home of The National Museum of The Bahamas.
In the meantime, the first phase, a creative transformation of the long-neglected grounds, was initiated on March 30th. Spearheaded by Orjan Lindroth a Bahamian developer and Antonius Roberts, sculptor and open space designer, under the auspices of the Antiquities, Monuments & Museum Corporation, work commenced on that date and, barely three months later, is almost completed.
The vision and direction of this project was built on a foundation of several important guiding principles: to make it a community project; to create a city park accessible to and for Bahamians from all walks of life; to reflect and preserve aspects of Bahamian history that belong uniquely to these islands and to maximise the use of native wood, plants and trees and observe a ‘green’philosophy by recycling organic material and mulching it back into the ground.
Truly all of these guidelines have been adhered to with the participation of local contractors, all of whom went above and beyond their original scope of work and to whom we are indebted: Earthstone Construction, responsible for the design, fabrication and implementation of the Pond & Sculpture Garden, the Fountain, the amphitheatre style seating and the perimeter pathway. A special mention should be made that one of Earthstones’crew Mr. George Colebrooke’s son, Brent Walkine, an Honours student since Primary School and the new Head Boy at Faith Temple came straight from school and has been working hard every day on the construction of the Fountain with the rest of the crew; Native Sun Nursery who provided and planted trees, transported logs and donated crane time; Design Elements, the consulting Botanist and Landscapers; Rocky Farms and Fox Hill Nursery for providing many of the native plants and shrubs; Tony’s
Carpentry, who built the amazing Lucayan style Tree House and huts, drawing on his own native Guyanian and Indian heritage for authenticity; Robin Hardy for milling some of the wood on site for the benches.
Several artists have created work specifically for this site. Antonius Roberts has donated and installed his “Driftwood”sculpture; Jessica Colebrooke has created her lovely ceramic tiles picturing various Bahamian fish - these will be installed in the main Fountain in front of the house; Chantal Bethel carved a wooden bench in honour of her late father, a well respected agronomist in the country; Tyrone Ferguson is fabricating a bronze sundial for the Pond area; Lavar Munroe is creating a mural inspired by the Lucayan Indian heritage, the placement of which is still to be decided; John Cox and his summer students will add their creativity to adding hieroglypics to the huts; additionally, local schoolchildren guided by Kelley Knowles, Antonius Roberts‘assistant, painted the local found stones that form the Turtle effigy in the ground.
Local citizens such as Jermaine and LIttle Mitch Finley collected found stones on the shore, carried them to the site and placed them all around the perimeter of the central area. Many generous donors have shared in the experience by giving trees, plants and herbs and helping dig them in.
A daily blog and a written and pictorial log has been kept since the first day. The blog is on Antonius Roberts’website maintained by Lisa and Duke Wells; the written and pictorial daily log has been produced by Victoria Sarne and will be transformed into a hard cover book and lodged as a record with the official Archives.
This now beautiful green space boasts a Pond with a fountain and Sculpture Garden and a Labyrinth - perfect for a quiet reflective stroll. The stones painted by the children form a giant Turtle and the path that circles the entire area has sculpted Madeira wood benches placed at intervals throughout the area. Orjan Lindroth, Lindroth Development Company & Schooner Bay, Abaco, facilitated the donation of a massive boulder from the New Providence Development Company now placed close to the entrance from Shirley Street and a smaller boulder was placed on the easterly side of the main driveway and nestled into a sandy area planted out with low growing shrubs and vines. There will be another addition to the northwest corner of the Shirley Street frontage shortly when Peter Bates of Signman adopts a section surrounding Chantal
Bethel’s bench, dedicated to his Sunflower Memorial - another place to pause and reflect.
At the southerly end of the park is a Herb Garden in the form of an Hutea which abuts the space designated as a Children’s Play area. This includes the existing giant Rubber Tree now graced with wooden swings and benches offering some cooling shade as well as amphitheatre style seating for parents to watch their children play in a safe environment
or, in the future, audiences to watch musical
or dramatic performances on the main lawn. This area is completed by an amazing wooden Tree House and two smaller huts in the style of a Lucayan Indian village. Naturally, the central lawn area also offers endless opportunity for children to run, jump
or play with a ball.
The easterly portion of the grounds immediately in front of the house has also been restored and re-planted. The original fountain on this part of the property is now under re-construction and is scheduled for completion by the end of June. The fountain will have jets cascading into a tiled stream running into a receiving pool. Again in this area wooden benches have been placed around the perimeter for quiet enjoyment.
The enthusiasm, love, pride, belief and energy that has been invested in this project by everyone involved from experienced contractors, interested donors, contributing artists and children is evidenced by the quality of workmanship and the short time frame from start to completion. Each of them hopes and believes that this project is simply the first of several that will give Bahamians something to enjoy and will be a source of continuing pride and pleasure as well as something to show and to share with the country’s many visitors by enhancing the Bahamian identity and experience. They also hope that the community will be inspired to participate in some way in its maintenance so that it can be enjoyed well into the future.
Perhaps it will also be seen as a catalyst and act as a ‘pilot project’leading the way for similar green space development and the restoration and rehabilitation of other older properties, a heritage to be enjoyed by all Bahamians.
