Product Description

Caribbean Houses is a lavishly illustrated account of the development of historically significant houses in the West Indies. Author Michael Connors, a West Indian decorative arts scholar, examines venerable houses that remain as a testimony to the rich history and vibrant lifestyle that was, and continues to be, an important part of Caribbean culture. The book is divided into five chapters, one for each European heritage: the Spanish Antilles, the Dutch Leewards, the English Islands, the French Lesser Antilles, and the Danish Virgin Islands. An authoritative text sheds light on the area’s rich architectural and interior design history and gives the reader a unique view of houses that combine the tradition of European styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs. The lavish new photography captures the stunning exteriors and provides a rare look into the interiors of these historic houses, with exotic tropical hardwoods, indigenous stone, and a blending of local crafts and handiwork with antiques and contemporary furnishings. With the disappearance of so much of the Caribbean’s historic domestic architecture, the colonial residences that still exist represent an important historical record of the Caribbean’s material culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38375 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-22
• Released on: 2009-09-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
"A rare look into the interiors of these historic houses, complete with exotic tropical hardwoods, indigenous stone, local crafts and contemporary furnishings, Caribbean Houses is one for the bookshelf." ~AlltheBestBlog.com

About the Author
Michael Connors is a contributor to numerous trade journals, including Art & Antiques and The Magazine Antiques, and he has written many books, including Caribbean Elegance, French Island Elegance, and Cuban Elegance. He lives in New York City, St. Croix, and Deer Isle, Maine.

Customer Reviews

Preserving the Past for the Future
They came across the Atlantic for the silver and gold, the exotic hardwoods, the cotton and tobacco, the salt deposits and fish, the lively slave trade and the vast riches from growing sugar cane; the Spaniards, the Dutch, the English, the French, the Danes, all jockeying for position among the 30-plus islands in the Caribbean, starting in the late sixteenth century. With their new wealth, they built vast plantations with "great houses," also called "palacios" (Spanish) and "landhuizen" (Dutch), grand homes that represented amalgamations of styles from their mother countries, designs that were adapted to utilize local building materials and protect their inhabitants from all manners of catastrophes in the new environment - the wicked hurricanes, the relentless sun and heat, the fires and the slave rebellions. But time and history marched forward, and today, most of these colonial-era mansions stand in tatters. Writes Michael Connors in the preface to his latest book, "Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture," "Their fall from grace has been gradual, as evidenced by a visitor to the islands in the late nineteenth century who wrote: 'Most of the mansions of the planters exhibit fast-increasing signs of poverty, neglect, and decay; and upon more than two-thirds of the estates the great house stands deserted and empty, sometimes falling into ruin, a melancholy monument of former luxury and life, when four-in-hands were frequent upon the roads and there were sounds of revelry in the hospitable halls." Few precious relics survived, and it is to document them that Connors set out to do in a study that the scholar calls "the first comprehensive account of the development of historically significant architecture in the West Indies." The lavish result, all illustrated with gorgeous photographs, does a wonderful job of describing the history, the people, and the forces that defined this bygone era, and helps to preserve for all time their legacy.

Connors Reaches a New Level
With Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture, Michael Connors displays great breadth as a scholar. While all his former books concern colonial Caribbean decorative arts, Caribbean Houses reveals Dr. Connors' more than adequate knowledge of the era's architecture as well. His prose is as evocative and compelling as usual, and the book's photographic illustrations can only be described as lavish. This book is a must have for anyone even remotely interested in the history of West Indian architecture.

Wonderful book
If you have read other books by Dr. Connors, this one will not disappoint you. It is not only a beautiful book of photographs but it is also conclusively written about Caribbean grand townhouses and great plantation houses during the colonial era. The history, style and architecture of the West Indies, which was influenced by the French, Spanish, English, Dutch and Danish islands is fascinating.

Dr. Connors has done a terrific job researching the properties, many of which have deteriorated due to neglect and absentee owners over time.

You will definitely have a new appreciation for the colonial era and the importance of maintaining the remaining structures for future generations to view and learn more about.

The photography is fabulous!