THE CHATTEL HOUSES OF BARBADOS
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The Chattel Houses of Barbados; the World of Interiors Magazine.“When the enslaved were finally freed in Barbados in the 1830s many upped sticks by dismantling their proto flat-pack homes and reassembling them elsewhere. Portable and compact they may have been, but these ‘chattel houses’ were still lovingly embellished with all manner of architectural details, from porticos to window pelmets, to signal the aspirant occupiers’ new-found respectability. There’s something spectacular about vernacular that has the power to move”, says Miguel Pena. “In the Caribbean, between the ending of slavery in 1834 and full emancipation in 1838, there was a controversial ‘apprenticeship’ period, during which liberated workers would supposedly prepare for independent life. To maximize sugar production on every available patch, however, plantation owners simply intended to shift their former slaves to non-arable land subject to rent. For their part, the soon-to-be-freed looked forward to a time when they could finally leave forced servitude and, their dignity restored, live in homes just like those in the free community. All this called for houses that were portable – indeed ‘chattel’ means movable property. Thankfully there was a ready supply of cheap timber and skilled carpenters. So, come Emancipation Day on 1 August 1838, many newly freed Barbadians simply ‘took down’ their house, roof, siding boards, upright supporting beams, ground sill and all. Each component was then duly loaded on to a donkey- or ox-drawn cart, moved to a new lot, for which the freeman would pay rent, and reassembled. Today, bedecked with Christmas lights and garlands, this variant of a chattel house in Speightstown, on the northwest coast, rests on a loose foundation – a typical feature in such buildings. Here the ground still consists of unmortared rubble, concrete blocks and probably coral.” – Miguel Pena. -
The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
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The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
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The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
The Chattel Houses of Barbados -
The Chattel Houses of Barbados
The Chattel Houses of Barbados; the World of Interiors Magazine.“When the enslaved were finally freed in Barbados in the 1830s many upped sticks by dismantling their proto flat-pack homes and reassembling them elsewhere. Portable and compact they may have been, but these ‘chattel houses’ were still lovingly embellished with all manner of architectural details, from porticos to window pelmets, to signal the aspirant occupiers’ new-found respectability. There’s something spectacular about vernacular that has the power to move”, says Miguel Pena. “In the Caribbean, between the ending of slavery in 1834 and full emancipation in 1838, there was a controversial ‘apprenticeship’ period, during which liberated workers would supposedly prepare for independent life. To maximize sugar production on every available patch, however, plantation owners simply intended to shift their former slaves to non-arable land subject to rent. For their part, the soon-to-be-freed looked forward to a time when they could finally leave forced servitude and, their dignity restored, live in homes just like those in the free community. All this called for houses that were portable – indeed ‘chattel’ means movable property. Thankfully there was a ready supply of cheap timber and skilled carpenters. So, come Emancipation Day on 1 August 1838, many newly freed Barbadians simply ‘took down’ their house, roof, siding boards, upright supporting beams, ground sill and all. Each component was then duly loaded on to a donkey- or ox-drawn cart, moved to a new lot, for which the freeman would pay rent, and reassembled. Today, bedecked with Christmas lights and garlands, this variant of a chattel house in Speightstown, on the northwest coast, rests on a loose foundation – a typical feature in such buildings. Here the ground still consists of unmortared rubble, concrete blocks and probably coral.” – Miguel Pena. The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados The Chattel Houses of Barbados