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Huge houses built on egos
Published: Sunday | June 13, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
ARCHITECT Evon Williams places the love affair among many Jamaicans for huge personal dwellings with the 'windrush generation' that migrated to England to help rebuild post-World War II England and the polygamous structure of some African societies.
"If you look at the countryside, not just Kingston - the south coast, from Point Hill to Whitehouse, along the coast in St Ann - the big houses really came about with Jamaicans who had gone abroad with the windrush crew, so to speak, in the 1950s," he said.
Having struck out on his own in 1972, Williams would have seen many of the sizeable edifices go up.
"They spent their whole lives accumulating some money. Many would have bought a home in London, Chicago, wherever they were, may have raised a family and want to come back to the rock. But they did not want to come back to the house of Harbour View size or the one-bedroom. They felt that they wanted to go back to children, grandchildren in one place," he said, pointing to Mandeville as a prime example of the six- and seven-bedroom structures.
Polygamy
In addition, pointing to polygamy, Williams says: "Building huge houses is nothing new. If you have more than one wife, you have to take care of them." So, he says the kind of polygamy in Jamaica - "one wife in Portmore, one in Beverly Hills, one in Harbour View" - was not allowed. Hence, there were compound, with everybody in one place.
Relating those situations to Jamaica, Williams says: "Having gone full circle, we have a little bit of both worlds. What we have are individuals with means we can only speculate about. They did not migrate. They stopped here on the rock." He opines that they go more for the polygamous model, with the women and children under one roof, hence "they build these huge houses. You see groups of people living there. They have the need for the huge - not big, huge - house."
And he adds: "I suspect that coupled with that fact is the ego coming into play. It should not only be big, but it should be ostentatious and ugly. Money equates with big. It does not equate with good and interesting design. If you've been into some of these houses, you would be amazed by the type of embellishments, furnishings. The individuals we are talking about have not had the advantage of going away to appreciate art and design.
"All that is important is the accumulation of wealth," Williams said, pointing out that that is not solely with regard to houses, but also fancy cars, jewellery and other items that are easily identified by their peers.
Attention
And the houses are often placed in very conspicuous positions, as the resulting attention then "satisfies the need to say to John Public or their colleagues, associate, fan base, that they have arrived. And I have a theory that the harder you work for what you have, the more likely it is you will be careful with what you have worked for. If you have worked hard, you are not likely to go and spend millions of dollars on these huge edifices."
Williams clarifies, though, that "we rush to judgement, saying that it is the dons, the area leaders, who are doing this. In some ways you can understand; it is the nature of the business. There are high-profile, legitimate individuals who build equally ugly monstrosities, costing tens of millions of dollars. They can't explain the source of their income.
"We only seem to recognise corruption emanating from the lower class, the dons. I am willing to bet more of it comes from those with the means, as opposed to those without means.
Published: Sunday | June 13, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
ARCHITECT Evon Williams places the love affair among many Jamaicans for huge personal dwellings with the 'windrush generation' that migrated to England to help rebuild post-World War II England and the polygamous structure of some African societies.
"If you look at the countryside, not just Kingston - the south coast, from Point Hill to Whitehouse, along the coast in St Ann - the big houses really came about with Jamaicans who had gone abroad with the windrush crew, so to speak, in the 1950s," he said.
Having struck out on his own in 1972, Williams would have seen many of the sizeable edifices go up.
"They spent their whole lives accumulating some money. Many would have bought a home in London, Chicago, wherever they were, may have raised a family and want to come back to the rock. But they did not want to come back to the house of Harbour View size or the one-bedroom. They felt that they wanted to go back to children, grandchildren in one place," he said, pointing to Mandeville as a prime example of the six- and seven-bedroom structures.
Polygamy
In addition, pointing to polygamy, Williams says: "Building huge houses is nothing new. If you have more than one wife, you have to take care of them." So, he says the kind of polygamy in Jamaica - "one wife in Portmore, one in Beverly Hills, one in Harbour View" - was not allowed. Hence, there were compound, with everybody in one place.
Relating those situations to Jamaica, Williams says: "Having gone full circle, we have a little bit of both worlds. What we have are individuals with means we can only speculate about. They did not migrate. They stopped here on the rock." He opines that they go more for the polygamous model, with the women and children under one roof, hence "they build these huge houses. You see groups of people living there. They have the need for the huge - not big, huge - house."
And he adds: "I suspect that coupled with that fact is the ego coming into play. It should not only be big, but it should be ostentatious and ugly. Money equates with big. It does not equate with good and interesting design. If you've been into some of these houses, you would be amazed by the type of embellishments, furnishings. The individuals we are talking about have not had the advantage of going away to appreciate art and design.
"All that is important is the accumulation of wealth," Williams said, pointing out that that is not solely with regard to houses, but also fancy cars, jewellery and other items that are easily identified by their peers.
Attention
And the houses are often placed in very conspicuous positions, as the resulting attention then "satisfies the need to say to John Public or their colleagues, associate, fan base, that they have arrived. And I have a theory that the harder you work for what you have, the more likely it is you will be careful with what you have worked for. If you have worked hard, you are not likely to go and spend millions of dollars on these huge edifices."
Williams clarifies, though, that "we rush to judgement, saying that it is the dons, the area leaders, who are doing this. In some ways you can understand; it is the nature of the business. There are high-profile, legitimate individuals who build equally ugly monstrosities, costing tens of millions of dollars. They can't explain the source of their income.
"We only seem to recognise corruption emanating from the lower class, the dons. I am willing to bet more of it comes from those with the means, as opposed to those without means.
it spelll wid a "heach"? ...well mi cyaan spell fram marwin! ) wid money, nuh matta iffen im a Don, Doctor, Hin-gi-neer big time businessman or wah, his still a butto?!
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