Restoration works to Government House, Antigua

Having withstood the ravages of fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and termites, Government House in St John’s is an extraordinary survival of shared heritage; one of the most important historic buildings on the island, and indeed, in the Caribbean. The house has served as the residence of the head of state since the late 18th century. Adapted by Lord Lavington in 1801, like so many historic public buildings, it has grown organically over time as subsequent generations have added to it. In 1841 it was described as ‘a genteel West Indian residence, possessing some good apartments and having its stabling and outbuildings upon a respectable scale.’

What can be seen today is a fascinating accretive building – layer upon layer of history superimposed on the building and its garden compound. This makes it vital that everyone understands the complexity and significance of the building before embarking on its restoration.

The Commonwealth Heritage Forum have asked Robert Kerr, Director of ADAM Architecture, to provide heritage oversight to aid the Heritage Trust of Antigua and Barbuda (HTAB) with their works to restore Government House. The works on site have been carried out by the contractors CG Construction Co., led by architect Curisa Smith.

The work includes the renovation of the ground floor principle rooms back to their former glory, to be used for public facing events in support of the work of the Governor General, and his wife Lady Williams, for her charitable work with Halo Foundation. The first floor will be used as a museum to explain much of the evolution of the house and some of Antigua’s rich and complex history.

Over the years, Government House has been threatened with demolition and the Governor General, Sir Rodney Williams, intervened decisively to save it. In 2016 HRH Prince Harry launched a project which determined to demonstrate how an operational government building can be conserved and opened to the public for a range of multiple uses. A huge amount of investigative work has been done pro bono in a global collaboration with inputs from the UK, the USA and Jamaica alongside local expertise and guidance from the World Monuments Fund and the the King's Foundation. In 2016, Donald Insall’s, a leading UK conservation practice, developed a Conservation Management Plan for the house. Despite this, as a result of a number of factors including lack of funds, the building has suffered significant water ingress from the roof, failures due to poor drainage around the building leading to issues of subsidence, termite infestations through much of the fabric, and a need to overhaul outdated and unsafe electrical uses. A longer term sustainable use for the building was also needed.

Under the stewardship of HTAB and Sir Rodney Williams, with the support of the Commonwealth Heritage Forum and ADAM Architecture, the building is being given new life and the investment to ensure its long term continued use.

Best efforts have been carried out to ensure that the works are done to the highest standards, and best practice of conservation principles. There are a number of significant improvements that have been achieved as a result of this work.

External drainage: new downpipes have helped to address the root cause of the subsidence that was occurring in a number of locations.
Structural repairs: the house has a number of areas where termite infestation has been substantial and advice has been followed to remove the modern timbers that were aiding this process of decline. There was also more substantial evidence of structural failure in various places. An appropriate methodology of maintaining historic structure where suitable, and inserting new treated timber gusset supports meant that more radical intervention was not required.
Repair techniques and materials: it became apparent that floor boards and wall boards were being straight cut, when they needed to be removed to carry out the works. We have now managed to stop this practice. Where we have had to install new electrical fittings, they have been done into areas where we have been repairing panelling, or carrying out other repairs. Advice given has ensured that cement mortar being raked out is not done with circular angle grinders, that lime mortar is used, and that the timber being used to repair the floor in the hall, is not simply an extension of the poor repairs previously carried out. New windows were required in a number of locations and a manufacture was found in Nevis. An historic window from the house was carefully removed and transported to Nevis so that the window sections could be copied exactly. Shop drawings were provided of the new windows to ensure that the proposals were correct and with the attention given, further issues that would have been created were corrected and stopped. On the verandas, a concrete coping was proposed by the contractor. This was caught in time and a solution found that balanced financial and aesthetics. The surrounding copings are in stone, however solid stone was not possible given the structural approach that had already been taken to support the veranda. The solution of a stone cladding with a mitred corner was found to provide a finish that now looks far more in line with the rest, and a significant improvement on what was there before.
Rectifying the removal of historic fabric: the historic external stairs at the rear of the building were demolished and removed without reason or consent. Extensive work was done to ensure that the materials used for treads (stone) and sides (brick) were done with appropriate setting out, jointing, sizing and detailing to ensure that what went back matched what had been removed, and that they were reinstated. A new lift is to be provided to improve access to the upper floors and advice was given where this could go to limit removal of any historic fabric. This will have significant heritage benefit to the long term use of the building with no significant harm to the fabric.