The Old Police Headquarters

 

The Old Police Headquarters was completed in 1876 but later destroyed by a fire twice, first in 1882 and the last one in 1990 during the attempted coup. It was later renovated in 2004. This Italian Gothic styled revival architectural building is located on St. Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. The limestone used to build this infrastructure was mined in Picadily Street, Port-of-Spain. Beholding this building, its gothic styled arches with wheel windows above them are outstanding and striking. The distinguished square tower that is seen contains machicolations in its barrier. Today this building accommodates certain police service units and the police museum. 

Standing on St. Vincent Street and looking at this building, you can feel it’s a place of power. The stonework structure that is not commonly seen sends a strong message that it’s a dignified building. You can see a part of our history, and shows where we’ve been to where we are now because building schemes like that are not designed these days in Trinidad and Tobago and hence it represents a unique structure and earns its place in our architectural blog through time.

Police presence in this country dates back to 1592 when the force was only half a dozen strong. The Old Police Headquarters shows the historic background of police presence. During colonialism, the barracks of the West India Regiment was present in that area. The West India Regiment was an infantry unit of the British army for the British colonies. It is impressive that this building remained with its legacy of defence during and after colonialism. This building remains as a symbol of protection. Through such symbolism, one can consider the fact that Trinidad is an ex-colony yet, the old police headquarters are present in a colonial Regiment.

It’s as though that independence simply meant to adopt what the British left behind and simply put our name on it. It makes one consider whether or not Port-of-Spain was still a colonial city. Such thoughts are explained by the Post-Colonial Theory. This theory explains that post-colonies experience a sought of lessened value due to constant comparison between them and the imperial powers. Thus, Post-Colonialism affects the very structure of the city. In an attempt to reach the standard of the imperial powers, the ex-colonies keep remnants of the colonial city to maintain a sought of similarity. The conversion of this building to the Old Police Headquarters was possibly an attempt to be as legitimate as the imperial power’s defence service.

Bibliography

Ramsey, Outdoor Business Group Limited and Brian. Outdoors Trinidad. 2006. http://www.trinoutdoors.com/pages/other%20places.htm (accessed March 23rd, 2016).