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Traditional Caribbean country shacks were made with "wattle and daub," a latticework of springy twigs covered in mud and dried in the sun. The roof was topped with thatch, providing a cool indoor environment. More recently, concrete has become popular as a hurricane-resistant building material. |
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The
flamboyance of gingerbread appealed to plantation owners and estate managers,
who had grand houses built to show off their wealth, with elaborate verandas
overlooking their estates. Public buildings were also given he gingerbread
treatment, the most fanciful of which are n Haiti. Saba, one of the Dutch
Windward Islands, has several well-maintained gingerbread houses with green or
red window frames, surrounded by pretty tropical blooms, concentrated in a small
area (Windward side and The Bottom). Gingerbread's popularity spread, and the
style was taken up in the U.S. during the prosperous 1860s and 1870" after
the Civil War. Good examples can be seen in the beach resort of Cape May, New
Jersey. Traditionally, Caribbean houses were constructed in wood, as there was
no need for the warmth provided by tone and brick. Wood was cheaper and
buildings could even be dismantled and taken away (in Barbados, farmers homes
were known as "chattel" houses because they could be moved with other
goods and chattels). These houses, their walls made from strips of clapboard and
their roofs tiled with wooden shingles, are steadily disappearing as the islands
develop, but you will see examples of them if you drive through the country
.Curacao,
Bonaire and Aruba's houses are made with brick and plaster-wood was scarce and
at risk from fire, so its use in building was banned. The walls are painted in
gold, light brown, purple, and deep green, and the effect is completed with
orange "dakpannen," clay roof tiles, and white borders. The story goes
that Admiral Kikkert, a Governor of Curacao, suffered from headaches brought on
by the reflection of the sun in Willemstad's whitewashed buildings, so he
ordered that they be painted any color other than white.