Urban Transformation of Port of Spain: "Then and Now"

"By the diversity of its time-structures, the city in part escapes the tyranny of a single present, and the monotony of a future that consists in repeating only a single heartbeat in the past." (Mumford 1938) Within the evolution of time, the infrastructural design of cities have evolved with it as well. This can be seen in Port of Spain. The old versus the modern. Most of the old buildings help preserve the history of the heritage of Port of Spain whereas the new takes us to current era in which we live in. Best of both worlds, agreed? Two different time periods created two very different forms of art. An art expressed through the embodiment of infrastructure within the capital city.

The Stollmeyer Castle
Photograph by : Nicola Mathura and Dianne Mahabir

The picture above illustrates one of the Magnificent Seven better known as the Stollymeyer Castle which is located around the Queens's Park Savannah in line with the rest of buildings. It was one of the first houses to be constructed on established lands in 1902 and was finished built in 1904. It is described to be Scottish Baronial and patterned after a wing of a Baronial Castle. After the World War finished the family that resided there moved back into Killarney, Scotland. The house was the sold to the government in 1977.

The National Academy of Performing Arts
Photograph by: Nicola Mathura and Dianne Mahabir

Picture 2 depicts this beautiful structure of the National Academy of Performing Arts which is located in the center of the capital city on the other side of the Queens Park Savannah adjacent to the Magnificent Seven. This modern building is the home for pursuers of arts as well as our national instrument known as the "steelpan". This academy was opened in November 2009. It was constructed on what is formely known as the Princes Building Grounds. It was part of a development plan for the arts and culture of Trinidad and Tobago. The building is made up of mostly glass windows and steel edged with 21st century waterfalls as it is surrounded by tall standing trees that breathe life into the environment.



"Now the dominant urban environment of the past century has been mainly a narrow by-product of the machine ideology." (Mumford 1938) The urban environment then was made by limestone whereas the buildings made now is of steel and glass with the 21st century touch to it. The history of culture is evidently changing as we are shifting from the European Medieval Culture to the more Western Design of our city. When you look at the structures you see two very different time periods occupying the same space as they are both located around the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain."Through the material fact of preservation, times clashes with time...streaking with different strata of time the characteristics of any single generation." (Mumford 1938)

References:

Citizens for Conservation (n.d). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://citizensforconservationtt.org/main/index.php/builtherit/magnificent-seven/126-killarney-stollmeyers-castle

Mumford, L. (1938). The culture of cities. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.

The Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) Auditorium- National Academy for Performing Arts. Retrieved March 23rd,2016, from http://artsandculture.gov.tt/index.php/agencies/performance/nap